City of Paris approves MVRDV’s restructuring of 1970s superblock in Montparnasse

Article source: MVRDV

The City of Paris has given the green light to MVRDV’s ambitious plan for the restructuring of the mixed-use urban block Vandamme Nord at Gaîté-Montparnasse in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. The large building complex, built in the 1970s, comprises a shopping centre, offices, a public library, a hotel and an underground car park, all of which will be retrofitted so as to reintroduce the human scale to an urban environment largely characterized by wide boulevards and monolithic structures. In addition to the face-lift provided by a new facade, the accessibility and programmatic identity of each of these programs will be improved through a total internal reorganisation of the complex. The building’s restructuring also foresees extending the existing commercial spaces, creating new office space, a new kindergarten, an expanded library, a conference centre, as well as a number of social housing units.

Each programmatic component in the building gets its own distinct facade, Image Courtesy © MVRDV

• Architects: MVRDV
• Project: City of Paris approves MVRDV’s restructuring of 1970s superblock in Montparnasse
• Location: Montparnasse, Paris, France

Gat Montparnasse, a tired and outdated 70s mall gets a second life from a new facade and total internal reorganisation, Image Courtesy © MVRDV

Situated in close vicinity to Tour Montparnasse, the Vandamme mixed-use block, designed in the early 1970s by the French architect Pierre Dufau, was as one of the largest urban projects implemented in Paris at the time. As a design driven by the ideal of the automobile, it appeared as a triangular urban island surrounded by the traffic loaded Rue Mouchotte, Avenue du Maine and the rail tracks to Gare Montparnasse opposite the site. Dufau’s design is characterized by a clearly defined horizontal plinth, interrupted only by the verticality of the slender, 30-storey tower of the Hotel Pullman. Once a landmark of the era, over time the complex has failed to adapt to the changing needs of an urban society, resulting in an introverted and self-contained block which lacks urban connectivity, discourages pedestrian activity and neglects any sense of identity.

MVRDV’s proposal aims to reintroduce the lost human scale and bring back a sense of place within the Montparnasse district: breaking the solid, horizontal volume up into fragments and making the mixed-use program inside the plinth more extroverted allows each part of the program to distinguish itself through a unique identity. Each façade is opened up to light and access as much as possible, and replaced by a collection of ‘boxes’ inserted into the existing structural frame, which differ in size, program, activity, colour and materials. Each box accommodates a different part of the program while being flexible with regards to future demands. Based on the existing structural grid, the majority of boxes are suspended from the façade revealing the wide range of functions such as bars, restaurants, shops, a library, exterior gardens, living and working spaces. Density is increased carefully while respecting the architectural language of the original design and refreshing the run down details and organisation of the block.

The restructuring also includes a significant extension of the building with the addition of many new programs, Image Courtesy © MVRDV

Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV is enthusiastic about the challenge: ‘This project is a fantastic chance to insert a little bit of human scale into a megalomaniacal 1970’s development in the very heart of Paris. We will bring order to the complex building, making it accessible from all sides and intensifying its use through a higher density of programs. On its façade the building will display all of the activities that are going on inside. For this we have developed a catalogue of façade-elements that are exchangeable, so that the entire ensemble can respond flexibly to changes in use over the coming years.’

In order to improve accessibility and increase permeability at ground level, additional entrances are created on Avenue du Maine and Rue Mouchotte. The shopping centre is extended; the offices, which are currently stretched over the entire width of the plinth, are replaced by a six -storey office block which includes accessible roof terraces creating an ‘address’ of sorts on Avenue du Maine. The public library Bibliothèque Vandamme is moved from its current underground location to the top of the plinth for improved daylight conditions and direct access to and from the station Gare Montparnasse. A community of 62 social housing units, and a kindergarden of 500 m², are added onto the plinth between the hotel tower and the office block Le Héron, while maintaining the required distance from the building’s neighbours for light and views. Rue Vercingétorix, the southern plot boundary, will be upgraded by opening up the current back face of the building. In order to relieve on-street parking spaces, 150 extra spaces for scooters are created within the six-storey underground car park.

The project was commissioned by Unibail-Rodamco and has been conceived by MVRDV in collaboration with local architect SRA, engineers SCYNA4, installation consultant LAFI + INEX, cost consultant Vanguard, façade engineers RFR, acoustic consultant LASA and BATISS for fire safety.

New Programme, Image Courtesy © MVRDV

MVRDV was set up in 1993 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV engages globally in providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues. A research based and highly collaborative design method engages experts from all fields, clients and stakeholders in the creative process. The results are exemplary and outspoken buildings, urban plans, studies and objects, which enable our cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future.

Early projects by the office, such as the headquarters for the Dutch Public Broadcaster VPRO and WoZoCo housing for the elderly in Amsterdam lead to international acclaim. MVRDV develops its work in a conceptual way in which the changing conditions are visualised and discussed through designs, sometimes literally through the design and construction of a diagram. The office continues to pursue its fascination for and methodical research on density using a method of shaping space using the complex amounts of data that accompany contemporary building and design processes.The work of MVRDV is exhibited and published worldwide and has received numerous international awards. Seventy architects, designers and other staff develop projects in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative design process which involves rigorous technical and creative investigation.

MVRDV works with BIM and has official in-house BREEAM and LEED assessors. Together with Delft University of Technology, MVRDV runs The Why Factory, an independent think tank and research institute providing an agenda for architecture and urbanism by envisioning the city of the future.

Tags: France, Paris

Categories: Commercial Building, Master Plan, Mixed use, Renovation

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