Vive La France! Vive Les Jeux Olympiques!
For the next 16 days the world will be obsessed with the Olympics. I do enjoy watching the gymnastics and swimming competitions, but what I am really looking forward to is seeing Paris in the spotlight.
photo via dezeen
Yes, Paris is one of my favorite cities, and – to me at least - the most beautiful city in the world.
I am beyond excited to see the impact that the games will have on the city itself. Because as you will discover if you read on, the City of Light has taken a very different approach to building out the infrastructure to host the games.
I am a firm proponent of sustainable design and architectural restoration. Paris is all about its history, with many architectural treasures that must be fervently protected.
Meanwhile, hosting an Olympics typically means building lots of new infrastructure which is very costly – and many times an investment that is impossible for cities to recoup. It can also leave in its wake permanent structures that in the best of cases are repurposed, and in the worst of cases, are abandoned once the games are over.
The French approach to preparing Paris for the games has been “renovation and reuse”. Design and architecture publication Dezeen says, “with organisers seeking to minimise new construction in order to reduce the games' carbon footprint, nearly all of the 35 venues will either be buildings that already existed, or temporary structures erected at some of the French capital's most famous landmarks.”
In fact, only TWO new permanent structures have been built aside from the Olympic Village, a new Parisian district which will remain as affordable housing, offices, parks and other infrastructure, as well as a new metro station.
How enlightened! Leaving things better than you found them, and leaving the most beautiful city in the world as it was after the crowds are gone. Kudos to the French for doing everything possible to respect the history and heritage of their city, which I am sure will showcase its astounding beauty for entire world to see during these games.
I. CAN’T. WAIT!
See Dezeen’s guide to the architecture of the 2024 Olympic Games here.
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