The Parisian quarter of La Defense skyscrapers, as you know, is a very large boulevard, densely planted with greenery, modern sculpture and fountains of different colors, and surrounded by office skyscrapers, which, however, are not so visible behind the trees. The culmination of the boulevard is the square Arch of Defense, which closes its perspective. Behind the arch, the white-collar quarter ends in a pleasant French-trimmed park with flowers; however, behind the wall of this park, the gloss disappears completely suddenly, and the tourist (if it takes him into his head to get here) finds himself in a real suburb: a railway, a highway, garbage dumps, wastelands, a cemetery … A large football field adjoins the wall of the park, behind the arch, which is called the Stade des Bouvets. Here on the site of this course, the owner of the Racing-Métro 92 rugby club, Jacques Lorenzetti, decided to build a giant "Arena 92".
The architectural competition was announced in April 2010, and in July the jury selected a shortlist of four architects, who were further invited to participate in the so-called dialogue-competition (dialogue compétitif). In this second stage, each architect was required not only to finalize the project, but also to present a team of professionals from different profiles, including the contractor, and prove that this team is capable of fulfilling the order. In February, 1994 Pritzker laureate Christian de Portzamparc was announced as the winner of the second stage, teamed up with GTM-Vinci as a contractor.
According to the architect himself, he made the stadium look like "a strand of concrete fluttering above the ground." A concrete "strand" or even a "crown" is supported by a necklace of glass-metal "scales" that freely let light inside. I must say that this description is more than exhaustive: the form proposed for the giant arena by the Pritzker laureate is very simple and recalls the stadiums of the 1980s - at least if we compare it with the many stadiums of the 2000s: more recently, sports the arenas were sometimes covered with ornaments, then they swelled like bubbles.
The Portzamparc Arena is a rounded rectangle that should fill the entire spot of the existing field. The volume is covered with a concrete "cap", similar to a beret, slightly bent, not like the artist from Montmartre, but like a clerk from La Defense. Such a modest, albeit large, takes. It also looks like a pillow; not very similar to a strand, and if a strand, then also not a romantic young man, but a manager in a jacket and tie. The concrete "cap" in an obvious and predictable way echoes the white perspective frame of the Arch of Defense - as if the arch was put down, pressed to the ground, and it swelled a little and rounded from this.
The similarity with the arch is supported by the fact that the roof of the arena will be (this is required according to the competition task) sliding, automatic. Just for rugby competition, it is supposed to move it apart, opening the field; in this case, 32,000 spectators will fit inside. If the roof is closed completely, then you will get a concert hall, and it will already accommodate 40,000 people. Probably, the swelling of the concrete roof is explained by the need to fit inside the mechanics of a large movable roof.
The combination of a stadium and a giant concert hall, versatility is the main feature of the new Arena. This is a typical multifunctional complex with a stadium - to use the slang of modern Russian architecture. In the lower floors, in addition to cafes and shops, 30 thousand meters of offices are planned. Keeping in mind the wishes of versatility, the architect said that the stadium's facades will be designed in different ways: the southern facade in a “concert” style, the northern one in the “office” style, and the western one, apparently, in a “sporty” style. However, so far the difference in styles is not very noticeable on visualizations - everyone is absorbing vertical "scales" (to me personally, they remind the buildings of Olympic Avenue in Moscow; these scales are certainly much better and more progressive, but still similar).
The construction (and competition) was initiated by Jacques Lorenzetti, president of the club and founder of the Foncia group of companies. It finances (credits) construction by 70%, the remaining 30% are also given by private investors. In total, it is planned to invest 320 million euros, which is about 440 million dollars. For comparison, the Moscow VTB Arena Park will accommodate slightly more spectators (40 thousand in Paris, 45 thousand in Moscow), and will cost more than three times more - $ 1.4 billion. So the cost of the French stadium, in the Russian opinion, is not at all high.
For this money, real estate master and rugby lover Lorenzetti promises to build in Nanterre (on the territory of this city, and not at all Paris, which ends on the banks of the Seine, there is a football field being built) - the largest and most modern multifunctional (sports and cultural) arena in Europe … Not just the biggest, but the biggest. With state-of-the-art noise protection and a very large screen. Of course, all environmental obligations: rainwater harvesting, solar panels and a geothermal system are also provided for here. Transport accessibility is already there: the RER metro is nearby, and there is enough space for parking. The local authorities (both the mayor of Nanterre and the chairman of the Public Organization for the Development of the Seine-Défense District) are satisfied with the project - firstly, it does not need funding, and secondly, it will create 100,000 working hours (that's right!) For local residents, and will attract tourists by 23 million euros (this, of course, is 10-15 times less than the invested amount, but also nice). And finally, the construction of the stadium should make Nanterre "finally into a city", giving it a meaning more than just a suburb of luxurious La Défense.
Indeed, an almost completed street of residential buildings leads to the Arena from the Nanterre side. And - chu! - if we look at the layout of the project, we will find a couple of towers around the new stadium (apparently, in order to pick up the scale of the La Defense) and a snake of houses below. Nothing is said about these buildings in the French press - the attention is focused on the stadium, but if you consider that the construction is financed by a group of real estate companies - it is all very similar to the "investment construction" so widespread in Moscow: an iconic cultural structure, be it theater, museum or stadium, and N-th number of useful meters in addition.
“… Now that the project has been selected,” writes Le Moniteur, who followed the competition closely, “it is necessary to adjust the PLU (that is, the local Nanterre PZZ) for this location…”. How it all reminds of something! The same Le Moniteur argues somewhat perplexedly: what could be of interest here to such a Pritzker laureate as Portzampark? - Probably Lorenzetti's "passion" … Yes, probably that is it. However, as we can see, the Arena is not as expensive as similar (very, very) Russian projects - and in France it can really turn out to be environmentally friendly, make Nanterre a real city, and give its residents as much as 100,000 working hours. And the workers of the beautiful office towers will be able to listen to an opera or a rock concert in the company of forty thousand of their own kind.
