Politique Internationale — How does an architect design an Olympic Village, a functional place housing athletes and delegations during the fortnight of the Games, but also a symbolic showcase for the host city?
Dominique Perrault — The Olympic Village adventure began in 2016, when the city of Paris designed its candidacy initially with the idea of installing the site in three municipalities: Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and Île-Saint-Denis. The choice of territories consisting essentially of working or abandoned industrial facilities was very ambitious. From the start, it signalled a desire to transform neglected territories so that they would be integrated into the metropolis and the region. The idea was not just to build a place to accommodate 15,000 athletes, but to create a sustainable neighborhood that would be passed on to the inhabitants and accompany the intense urban development of this northern part of the capital, between Paris and Roissy. The work we are doing is one of uncovering, so that the site recovers a human face and reconnects, at the same time, with its natural geography and with a past that is steeped in history. We are celebrating its reunion with the basilica of the kings of France, with the main roads that swept around Paris in the Middle Ages, and especially with the Seine, which links it with the whole of Île-de- France.
The Olympic Village is the pretext for a tremendous rediscovery, that of the historical routes that disappeared because the railways, motorways and major facilities recomposed the natural geography. On the site of the Olympic Village, the ground slopes gently towards the river with a difference in level of about fifteen metres which has been completely erased by industrial installations. We are bringing this natural relief back to light with the development of public spaces, streets, and paths winding to the water’s edge to allow reunion with the Seine. I want to draw parallels between the Île de la Cité and the Île Saint-Denis, to show that they have the River Seine in common. In this way, these once-abandoned territories are being reintegrated into the great heart of the Île-de-France.
P. I. — Beyond promoting the relationship with the Seine, which is deeply linked to the image of Paris, how did you incorporate the area’s industrial heritage into the heart of the Olympic village?
D. P. — I had the luck to be dealing with a unique industrial heritage: that of the factories built at the beginning of the 20th century to supply electricity to the Paris metro. Part of this construction heritage, the Cité du Cinéma – a former project by the filmmaker Luc Besson – has already undergone an emblematic restoration. For the length of the Games, it will house all the restaurants, services and support systems for the 15,000 athletes who will live in the village. It is a very interesting building, with a large nave in the middle that is twice as large as that of the Tate Modern in London, which connects the upper part of the site with the river’s edge. Beyond this vast development, which includes hotels, restaurants, shops and housing, we are building a district that will be open to the Seine around the Cité du Cinéma, which is part of the architectural and industrial heritage of northern Paris. After the Games, this district will host new activities and become one of the most important centres of urban life for years to come.
P. I. — In what way does the Olympic Village foreshadow the sustainable city of the future?
D. P. — The architects, alongside the companies and developers, are building the most sustainable buildings possible from an environmental quality perspective: the village is making the most of wood as well as bio-based and recycled materials. All this is part of a virtuous cycle of improving the quality of construction in the light of sustainable development. But, for me, the first issue of sustainability is ensuring that people feel at home in their neighbourhood and take ownership of it. Thinking about the village means preparing all its architectural and landscape relationships as well as its technical, social, historical and economic ones. In 2050, its legacy will have to be that it contributes to a coherent and legible urban fabric. By having a broader vision, we give rise to projects that create a rapport with each other. You have to support the construction of the village by leaving its perimeter, so that the metropolis develops and diversifies, but does so in harmony and in a spirit of sharing. This is why I chose the title, ‘Beyond the Athletes’ Village’, for the exhibition held under the auspices of the latest edition of the Versailles Architecture and Landscape Biennale. The Games are an instrument of revelation: they highlight needs, but are only a starting point. Like in Barcelona, which experienced the most extraordinary Games and where an entire part of the city was completely transformed.
P. I. — The Olympic movement’s awareness of climate and environmental issues has been increasing for several years. How do you handle the energy issues?
D. P. — Apart from renewable energies, such as the solar panels that will be installed, natural elements are the first to allow us to achieve a form of resilience. The presence of the Seine should make it possible to use its water for forms of heat exchange that will temper offices and homes. In addition, I designed the village perpendicular to the Seine so it would descend towards the edge of the river. This orientation is extremely positive from a sustainable development point of view because all the axes, all the paths perpendicular to the Seine, open to the west. When the westerly winds blow, they pass over the water, cool down and rise naturally through the streets, alleys and public spaces that are perpendicular to the river. In this way, the prevailing winds provide a form of natural cooling. All of this is a peasant’s common sense. I am originally from the Auvergne region, and I’m finding words that my grandfather often used when I was a child.
P. I. — Mobility is a central element in the village’s integration into Greater Paris and in the area’s development. What importance have you placed on transport?
D. P. — The site has direct access to the A86 motorway and will be located 800 metres from the ‘Saint-Denis Pleyel’ station of the new Grand Paris Express, which will take you to the centre of Paris within minutes. At the moment, it takes more than an hour to get there. Tomorrow, you’ll be there in 20 minutes. The Grand Paris Express, driven by the SGP (Société du Grand Paris), will double the number of lines, interconnect them and significantly reduce transport times. The Pleyel ‘hub’, the equivalent in number of metro and RER lines to the station at Châtelet-les-Halles, provides a lot of structure. I use the English term ‘hub’ on purpose because this station does not offer a simple correspondence between two lines, but a proper place of interconnection and exchange with a convergence of metros, RER and high-capacity railways. It is a very important element for ensuring the influence of the whole district with its large stadium, Olympic swimming pool and other future developments, such as the large North hospital. Between Paris and Roissy we are seeing a constellation of projects, of housing and other facilities that require planning so that they speak to each other and fit in with each other. Let’s avoid the mistakes of the past when the housing question was answered with huge housing estates and new towns without any attention to the issue of mobility. The challenge is to find links between all these projects, with the north of the metropolis developing very significantly in the next twenty or thirty years. The future of Paris will play out in the north.
P. I. — Why not make more use of the Seine as a waterway for travel?
D. P. — Everyone dreams of traveling on the Seine. I don’t understand why this is not the case. It’s an enigma. The river is an obvious link between the different municipalities and the different entities of the metropolis. The obstacles are probably linked to planning issues: to share the Seine, you have to plan its use. Nowadays, industry 
drives us away from the water’s edge. If the rivers are to enter the daily lives of the citizens once again and no longer be considered solely as industrial axes, we need a national policy that makes major structural decisions.
P. I. — Is the Olympic project a source of pride and identity for the inhabitants of Paris’s northern suburbs?
D. P. — It’s a bit too early to tell because these projects are difficult to see when they are in progress. It is both a gamble and a challenge. We involved the inhabitants in the design of the project and we keep them constantly informed, but often through visual displays, not yet by allowing them to move about through fully functioning streets and businesses. The population will also benefit from the sports facilities and new equipment built for the Games. We are rediscovering other facilities that will be renovated, such as the Grande Nef de l’île-des- Vannes, an enormous sports hall used for basketball and handball at the end of the Île-Saint-Denis. It is a very beautiful building in the shape of an overturned boat hoisted onto the bank, emblematic of post-war architectural experiments. A footbridge has also been built over Highway A1 to connect the large stadium to the Olympic swimming pool: residents will be able to walk from one to the other without having to make a detour.
P. I. — How do you marry the very local with the very international dimension of the Games, with 4 billion viewers connecting to the event?
D. P. — All these visitors and all these selfies that will travel all over the world are very important. This is what you could call an epiphany: Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen, Île-Saint-Denis, municipalities that are little-known beyond our borders, will suddenly appear before the eyes of the world. This is an absolutely formidable and unique opportunity that must be seized. The Olympic Games are a springboard for promoting our territories, our projects, our country. Afterwards, tourists will come to this district, located a few minutes from the centre of Paris, to discover the banks of the Seine, the Cité du Cinéma, because there will be events here, things to see.
P. I. — You have worked on other major projects, like the Velodrome and the swimming pool in Berlin and the tennis center in Madrid. Do these Olympic sites have any specific particularities?
D. P. — They are exciting projects, but very difficult because they are linked to a non-negotiable schedule: the Games start at a fixed time on a said day, with no possibility of delay or postponement. That means you have make it. On the other hand, these are projects that are replete with wide-ranging issues that are not limited to the construction itself. You have to take the buildings that surround them, the public spaces, the evolving neighborhoods into account. In these Olympic projects, there is an eminently organic relationship between architecture, landscape and the city. The Olympic event also has the particularity of being very stimulating, but very ephemeral. The venues usually have large halls designed to accommodate crowds of spectators. You must always keep the Olympic and post- Olympic phases in mind. In Berlin, the swimming pool had 10,000 seats during the Games and 2,000 in ordinary times. We therefore conceived of a rising roof with room for temporary facilities – a roof which went back down to a ‘normal’ position after the Olympic event. It is exciting to design a project that is as suited to major competitions as it is to daily practice by sports federations and amateurs who will use the equipment after the Olympics. The legacy component is certainly the most important to consider for all of us and for the history of our cities.