Patrick Berger - Jacques Anziutti

THE CANOPY, PARIS

Since the demolition in 1971 of the 19th-century pavilions designed by Victor Baltard for the central markets, the area of Halles has been through various building stages, some rather tormented. Now, with the grand architectural gesture of the Canopy, the work of two French architects has given new meaning from an urban point of view to this central place, resolving the complexity of its social, cultural and infrastructural functions

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FROM THE ARCHITECTS’ PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Known in the past as the “belly of Paris”, the site is marked by the legacy of underground works built during the 1970s in the so-called “hole” in Les Halles (an underground space which resulted from the demolition of the Central Market of Paris.

This state of affairs constitutes an underground urban site that goes down to 24 m in depth and is 500 m in length, up to the Place du Châtelet. This urban site consists of the complex layering of several structures defined by their function and purpose.

A large multimodal station and a shopping centre occupy the five underground levels, visited by 800,000 people every day. This site has become the centre of gravity of the city. People travelling in from the airports, from the suburbs, and via the Paris Metro emerge in the centre of Paris from underground in a single point, which has now been reconfigured and which lies under the Canopy.

The Canopy is the realization of a covered public space which provides a backdrop to the “ascent to Paris” from below ground. The space extends for 140 m in length, 80 m in breadth and 24 m in height under the canopy.

The volume is partially underground and partially raised above ground, reaching a height of 14 m. The interior of this new space provides several public levels in a terraced arrangement, linked by stairways which animate and create a continuous connection between the underground architecture, the cultural amenities created above, the gardens and the surrounding neighbourhood.