France's Grand Paris Express plan winner of Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design
14/12/2022.
[PAR] France
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
The Harvard GSD has announced the French Grand Paris Express transit project as the winner of the 14th Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design, a large-scale transit project currently being built in and around the Paris metropolitan area.
The Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design recognizes exemplary urban design projects that demonstrate a humane and worthwhile direction for the design of urban environments.
Awarded biennially, the Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design is an award established in 1986 on the occasion of Harvard University’s 350th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the prize recognizes exemplary urban design projects realized anywhere in the world in the past 10 years. Previous Winners were The High Line (2017), Madrid Río (2015), and Porto and Medellín (2013).
The Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design recognizes exemplary urban design projects that demonstrate a humane and worthwhile direction for the design of urban environments.
Awarded biennially, the Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design is an award established in 1986 on the occasion of Harvard University’s 350th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the prize recognizes exemplary urban design projects realized anywhere in the world in the past 10 years. Previous Winners were The High Line (2017), Madrid Río (2015), and Porto and Medellín (2013).
Image courtesy of Société du Grand Paris/Courtesy of Harvard GSD.
The relationship between the Grand Paris Stations’ train network and the amenities in Paris and beyond. Martin Etienne, 2021.
Rendering of the Villejuif Institut Gustave Roussy Station by Dominique Perrault Architecte. Image by Dominique Perrault Architecte ADAGP/Courtesy of Harvard GSD.
Public revelation of a tunneller's cutting wheel during an event at the third KM in Champigny, staged by the Société du Grand Paris. Image by Florence Joubert/Courtesy of Harvard GSD.
A model of the Parc-des-Expositions station designed by Dietmar Feichtinger on view at La Fabrique du métro. Image by Leticia Ponctual/Courtesy of Harvard GSD.
A model of the Noisy-Champs station designed by Jean-Marie Duthilleul, showcased at La Fabrique du métr. Image by Leticia Ponctual/Courtesy of Harvard GSD.
Through carefully articulated design interventions, the Grand Paris Express (that will ring the French capital by the time it becomes fully operational in the year 2030) illustrates the potential for the planning and execution of the mobility infrastructure to transform a city and its region.
The plan calls for the construction of 68 new stations and 200 kilometers of an additional network of tracks, as well as extensions of existing metro lines, the Grand Paris Express is currently the largest urban design project in Europe (The $50,000 reward was given to Société du Grand Paris).
Once complete, its four new lines will circle around the capital and provide connections with Paris’s three airports, developing neighborhoods, business districts, and research clusters. It will serve more than 100 different communes that play host to 165,000 individual employers, and the daily transport of 2 million commuters. Construction work began mid-June 2016 and is due to last until 2030.
The purpose of the plan is to reduce reliance on automobile transportation and improve mobility patterns in and around the capital, connecting a series of young developments and existing suburbs to the city in an untangled circuit that also “generates new centralities within the knowledge-based economy.”
Expected Impact
The plan calls for the construction of 68 new stations and 200 kilometers of an additional network of tracks, as well as extensions of existing metro lines, the Grand Paris Express is currently the largest urban design project in Europe (The $50,000 reward was given to Société du Grand Paris).
Once complete, its four new lines will circle around the capital and provide connections with Paris’s three airports, developing neighborhoods, business districts, and research clusters. It will serve more than 100 different communes that play host to 165,000 individual employers, and the daily transport of 2 million commuters. Construction work began mid-June 2016 and is due to last until 2030.
The purpose of the plan is to reduce reliance on automobile transportation and improve mobility patterns in and around the capital, connecting a series of young developments and existing suburbs to the city in an untangled circuit that also “generates new centralities within the knowledge-based economy.”
Expected Impact
The Grand Paris Express is expected to contribute particularly to the “banlieue” zones, or suburbs of Paris, and create room for new housing programs and economic initiatives. By employing environmental practices, the construction process will also encourage biodiversity and effectively merge sites into the built landscape. After being extracted during tunneling, for example, soil is recycled throughout the sites, and low-carbon concrete is used to reduce building emissions.
An exhibition showcasing different media related to the project will be on view at the GSD’s Druker Design Center from January 23rd to March 31st of 2023. The exhibition's public lecture and reception are scheduled for Thursday, March 2, at 6:30 p.m. at Piper Auditorium.
