MISSION
ÎLE DE LA CITÉ PARIS
ORIENTATION MISSION
TOWARDS 2040
RESEARCH
RE–005
In December 2015, French President François Hollande tasked Dominique Perrault and Philippe Bélaval, president of the Centre des monuments nationaux, with conducting a study and providing guidance on the future of the Île de la Cité by 2040.
The historic and geographic heart of Paris, the Île de la Cité is one of the capital’s most symbolic and famous locations, illustrating the historical stratification that has built up over the centuries. However, its current urban condition can hardly be considered satisfactory: lacking dedicated visitor facilities and pedestrian areas, tourists often visit Notre Dame quickly, while Parisians prefer to avoid the area. With the relocation of major institutions such as the Paris Court of First Instance and the Regional Directorate of the Judicial Police to the Paris Judicial Center (Batignolles), and the redefinition of the activities of the Hôtel-Dieu hospital as part of the remodeling of the Paris region’s hospital network, it seems necessary to consider and imagine how to improve the urban functions of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Île de la Cité is an urban paradox: in the center of Paris, but out of this world. There is no map, no coherent interpretation of this territory, which is nevertheless the foundation of Paris.
Faced with this lack of a shared narrative, the “Ile de la Cité” mission proposes a project based on an essential gesture: redrawing the map of the island. Maps are concrete fictions combining truth and fiction, existing, past, or imaginary projects, in order to produce a possible narrative of the future: mapping to reveal the island’s invisible layers, to open up and invest in empty spaces, reconnect areas, reveal the potential of underground spaces, propose new passageways, to move freely between institutions, monuments, and public spaces, to rediscover a connection to the Seine.
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PROGRAM
The project explores the future of Île de la Cité through 35 proposals, presented in the form of fictional maps, offering a glimpse of what this area could look like in 2040. The aim is to restore its role as the beating heart of the capital and the Paris metropolitan area.
DÉTAIL
Situation
Île de la Cité, Paris, France
Year
2016
Ordering
Paris City Hall, entrusted by the President of the Republic François Hollande, Paris
Status
Mission confiée par le Président de la République François Hollande
Project implementation
Dominique Perrault, architect and urban planner, and Philippe Bélaval, President of the Centre des monuments nationaux.
DESCRIPTION
Dominique Perrault and Philippe Bélaval have defined the key areas of a comprehensive intervention, taking into account urban, cultural, tourist, and environmental dimensions, as part of a sustainable development strategy for the City of Paris. The aim is to think of the island as a whole, as a lively and open neighborhood, facing both banks of the Seine, reconciling economic activity, improved tourist facilities, and the enhancement of an unparalleled heritage.
READ MORE
The project is based on meticulous editing and collage work, using a creative approach similar to that of a palimpsest. Each drawing is a fragment of reflection, a way of re-examining reality and provoking new visions for this frozen island. This Manifesto project redefines the geography of the heart of the capital to give it a future, that of a heart of Paris beating once again.
The Mission’s research and conclusions were presented at the exhibition “Mission Île de la Cité, le cœur du cœur” (Mission Île de la Cité, the heart of the heart) at the Conciergerie from February 15 to April 17, 2017. Following on from the exhibition, the book Paris Île de la Cité 2040, published by Editions Norma in 2017 in partnership with the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, brings together the main findings of this study and, in six main chapters, traces the thread of the Mission Île de la Cité, from historical research to pragmatic proposals. It traces the history of the heart of Paris and the prospects for future development, drawing on archival documents, sketches, engravings, maps, and photographs.
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