The scene is Gonesse, located near the airports of Le Bourget and Charles de Gaulle, a suburb of Paris. There, the Auchan group plans to build an area combining 170,000 m2 of usable area of 170,000 m2 of entertainment facilities, 50,000 m2 of cultural institutions, commercial buildings (230,000 m2), as well as hotels and developed infrastructure on 500,000 m2 of usable area. The total area of the site will be 80 hectares, and the planned facilities include an auditorium with 2,000 seats, a circus, a park for snowboarders and freestyle skiers, a water park, 500-600 shops, a conference center, 12 hotels. Investments will amount to 1.7 billion euros.
This plan falls under the "jurisdiction" of the "Greater Paris" program, so it will need to be coordinated not only with the authorities at different levels, but also with its authors. An important aspect of the project is the strengthening of the Gonesse transport network with the help of a 10-kilometer railway - a "link" between the stations of high-speed suburban trains of the RER B and RER D lines, as well as with the help of the future automatic metro station "Express of the Greater Paris" (Grand Paris Express).
So far, four participants in the competition have submitted only a “urban planning and architectural study” describing the future Europa City in general terms, primarily from the point of view of its integration into the surrounding natural and built-up landscape.
Manuel Gotran's project involves the creation of seven diversified zones, connected to each other in a strip running through the site from north to south, gradually expanding.
The architects of "Snohetta" proposed to expand all buildings in the area horizontally, and make their roofs a green public space with recreational functions, given for the "unplanned activity" of residents around the clock. At ground level, it will be complemented by gardens and parks.
According to the plan of BIG, the territory of the district will be crossed by a boulevard, which will face commercial, entertainment and cultural institutions. An artificial relief will be created on their common overlap; there visitors can relax and enjoy the views of central Paris.
Valaud & Pistre and Michel Devigne have incorporated Europa City into a neat square under an ecological cloud roof. The central axis of the ensemble will be the river crossing the site diagonally.
The next stage of the competition will be an architectural project: its participants must prepare by the end of January 2012.
