Project: EUR – Europa City
Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
Partner in Charge: Andreas Klok Pedersen
Project Leader: Joao Albuquerque, Gabrielle Nadeau
Collaborators: Tess, Transsolar, Base, Transitec, Michel Forgue
Team Project: Maren Allen, David Tao, Salvador Palanca, Marcos Bano, Lucian Racovitan, Ryohei Koike, Camille Crépin, Elisa, Wienecke, Léna Rigal, Tiina Liisa Juuti, Jeff Mikolajewski
Client: Groupe Auchan
Size: 800 000 m2
Location: Paris, France
Website: www.big.dk
Danish practice Bjarke Ingels Grop designs the spectacular Europa City developing a refreshing concept for a location near Paris. See more of the design after the jump:
From the Architects:
How to combine a dense city with an open landscape?
Europa City will offer, on an unprecedented scale, a mix of retail, culture and leisure around a defining theme: Europe, its diversity, its urban experiences and its cultures. Rather than orienting Europa City towards the highway, we propose to integrate it as the natural center of a new business district. We propose an urban form that combines dense city with open landscape, exploring the urban and green potentials of the site at once. We propose a commercial city that becomes a gathering point for the surrounding neighborhoods– a new kind of commercial center that is blended into the urban texture, and includes rather than excludes the surrounding city.
The programs of Europa City are organized along an internal boulevard with a mix of retail, entertainment and cultural programs on both sides. The boulevard forms a continuous loop travelling through six different areas themed as the various regions of Europe. The central boulevard becomes the Rambla, the Regent Street and the Champs-Élysées of Europa city. Along the boulevard, public bicycles and electric public transport bring visitors quickly around. The circular street creates at the same time surprising spatial experiences and a clear overview – It allows you to get lost, and still find your way.
