Photos: Elise Robaglia / Potion Médiathique / Dominique Perrault Architecte, ADAGP

The French architect Dominique Perrault drew up the masterplan for the complex where the athletes competing in the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be billeted. Located in Seine-Saint-Denis, north of the center of Paris, it provides 2,400 lodgings, along with 119,000 square meters of facilities, stores, offices, and large green zones, not to mention the new Saint-Denis Pleyel train station, a work of Kengo Kuma.

The design team aimed to integrate the new development into the existing urban fabric. On land covering 51 hectares shared by Île Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, and Saint-Ouen, the scheme incorporated existing architectural elements, such as the Cité du Cinéma. Oriented towards the River Seine, the village adapts to the undulating topography with broad paths, promenades, and terraces. Several architecture studios collaborated in a development comprising blocks of different colors, positioned in a way that makes the most of natural light and views, among them some with timber frames.

The Village des athlètes was designed to be a new Parisian quarter after the Games, with new inhabitants starting in 2025, and to be a sustainable neighborhood. Hence the scheme included ambitious strategies to reduce energy consumption.