1 park of la villette - Tecnne

1 PARK OF LA VILLETTE
In 1982 was held a concourse for the urban renewal area of the Villette in the northeast
corner of Paris. The winning project by Bernard Tschumi away of all design conventions
of public spaces previously developed, breaking the rooted tradition the Parisian
garden.
To 40 years to its gestation the complex project is considered the initial point in the
road traveled for the architectural neo vanguards in the design of the urban spaces.
By Marcelo Gardinetti
The concourse of Parc de la Villette formed part the renewal process the wide of Paris city
where are once was installed the slaughterhouse and the meat market closed in 1974. The
communal authorities organized in 1976 a concourse chaired for the Brazilian landscape
architect Roberto Burle Marx and a jury integrated among others by the architects Renzo
Piano, Arata Isozaki and Vittorio Gregotti, and the landscape Paul Frieuerberg and
Jacques Simon.
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Is presented 472 projects of which the jury selected 9 for a second phase. Finally, in March
of 1983 by not reach consensus for any works the jury decided reward to design by
Tschumi who obtained the most votes.
Of the original elements constituting the place were maintained the “Grande Halle” and
the channel de L’ourrcq. The winner project based his proposal in the creation of a large
urban area that despites the changes suffered from the awards to the final draft
maintained the essence of his conception.
The architecture of the park is considered by its author as “architecture of signifier more
than the significance”. The result of the project is product of simultaneous design
processes from analysis and decomposition of the program in a series of fragments and
its reorganization around autonomous systems and the definition of movement of the
site. From these operations are defined the three systems that structure:
• An objects system represented by points
• A movement system represented by lines
• A spaces system represented by surfaces
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The layer or system of point is constituted by a grid of 120 x 120 meters that eliminates
any hierarchy within the structure of the park treating the whole as a uniform grid. The
points of intersection determine where are localized the references built, the “Folies”.
The second layer constructed by lines is represented by the galleries. The third layer of
surface is represented by the areas of pavement, grass and trees.
The superposition of the three systems leads to situations at random and conflict. Giving
from to the spatial structure of the park a progression to the text of landscape Michael
Corajoud, who in analogy to Archimedes palimpsest defined the contemporary park as a
superposition superposition of the trace of the English park on the trace of the French
park.
The Folies are designed from a cube structure of 10,80 x 10,80 meters with different
formal processes. According Tschumi, the Folies may originate from a programmatic
operation and vary over time, or a combination formally from the deconstruction of the
cube in confined space or moving elements represented as ramps o steps.
The Folies are the major milestone in space originated in the attraction of the red and its
repetitive feature in the park. Of the 35 Folies projected were built 26, the majority
contains specific functions. The galleries that run site from north to south parallel to
Grande Halle, is a large pergola wavy that accentuates the sense of movement and the
gallery which crosses from east to west runs parallel to the large channel as elevate
walkway connecting different Folies.
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The gardens surfaces are organized trace that contain activities and are part of a
cinematic tour organized between the coordinate axes and the large geometries. Each
garden covers approximately 600m2 differentiating traditional gardens of the host
children’s activities and spaces for recreation.
To collaborate on the project Bernard Tschumi invites the architects Nouvel, Eisenman,
Piñon y Viaplana and other, however part of the works not materialize for the rescission
prevailing in France in those years.
Today the park encompasses 35 hectares in an area of 55 hectares, that contains in the far
north the “Cite des Sciences e l’Industrie” projected in the structure of the old disused
slaughterhouse, and the “Geodé”, an huge mirror ball witch host a cinema hemispheric of
1.000 m2, both works by Adrien Fainsilber opened in 1986, and in the southern the
“Grande Halle de La Villette”, a structure for the sale of livestock constructed in 1867 by
Jules de Meridol and the “Cite de la Musique”, work by Christian de Portzamparc in 1995
that houses the museum of music an amphitheater and a concert hall.
The Parc de La Villette is an urban space of many references which is by features and
content is one of the most important public spaces designed in recent decades and a
reference model of the conformation of the XXI century urban space.
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MEMORIA DE LOS AUTORES
“The design for the Parc de la Villette was selected from over 470 international competitors.
The objectives of the competition were both to mark the vision of an era and to act upon the
future economic and cultural development of a key area in Paris. As described in the
competition, La Villette was not intended as a simple landscape replica; on the contrary, the
brief for this “urban park for the 21st century” developed a complex program of cultural and
entertainment facilities.
La Villette could be conceived of as one of the largest buildings ever constructed — a
discontinuous building but a single structure nevertheless, overlapping the site’s existing
features and articulating new activities. It opposes the landscape notion of Olmstead,
widespread during the 19th century, that “in the park, the city is not supposed to exist.”
Instead, it proposes a social and cultural park with activities that include workshops,
gymnasium and bath facilities, playgrounds, exhibitions, concerts, science experiments,
games and competitions, in addition to the Museum of Science and Technology and the City
of Music on the site. At night during the summer, the broad playing fields become an openair
movie theater for 3,000 spectators. The park currently accommodates around eight
million visitors a year.” Bernard Tschumi Architects
Fotografías: ©Marcelo Gardinetti
Drawings: Gentileza ©Bernard Tschumi Architects
Published in TECNNE ©Marcelo Gardinetti
Marzo de 2012.
Site of Architecture, Urbanism, Art and Design
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