Olympic Village Housing / Lina Ghotmeh Architecture

Rhythm, repetition, precision, detail and elegance, despite all constraints, shape the buildings designed by Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture for the Athletes’ Village. The architecture, tactile and graphic, is orchestrated and inspired by the movement of the athletes. The architecture of these facades tells the story of precision and integrates with the urban context. Javelins rise high and bring movement along the balconies of these homes. Tubular wooden structures, inspired by the paddles of athletes’ canoes, adorn the facades of the buildings, which are built of wood. All the building envelopes engage the senses and the material for a tactile experience and physical involvement with the space. The architectural design thus becomes a trace and memory of this extraordinary moment of high-precision sporting events in Paris.

This project is located in Seine-Saint-Denis, in the village dedicated to athletes. It is part of a block consisting of 12 buildings designed by different architects, with an urban plan orchestrated by architect Dominique Perrault. The urban project conceived for the village offers great flexibility and allows the reversibility of installations after the event. It forms a mixed area in full transformation. The committed urban strategy is above all a long-term reflection to create a new sustainable district, a part of the city offered to everyone, anchored in its territory and geography.

Our project is compact and covers a water surface of seven hectares on the Seine. It meets the requirements of functional and sustainable efficiency and translates the Parisian density, while drawing inspiration from the principles of Haussmannian architecture, where buildings adjoin each other to form the city.

The buildings are primarily intended to house athletes, but are also designed for the long term by being adaptable. The homes, once for athletes, will transform into residential units after the games, bringing this new neighborhood to life over time. This sustainable and ecological approach extends throughout the design of our project. The challenge is always to meet sustainable commitments while working within very tight planning and economic constraints. This is especially true in a very specific political context: the project was carried out during the Covid pandemic during the studies and faced with the challenges of construction in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine.

Sustainable approach and construction system: In a sustainable development ambition, some buildings in this project are designed with wooden construction, with wooden frame facades. Exotic and boreal wood outside the EU is prohibited. Low-carbon and bio-based materials have been given priority. When concrete was needed, the project used low-carbon concrete with CEM III cement, the dosage and properties of which reduce the impact of CO2 emissions. For this project, Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture has the design scope excluding interior design.