Europa-City: Bourg of the New Format
In France, in the suburbs of Paris in 2021 at the commission of the French Groupe Auchan SA is planned to build the largest cultural, wellness and shopping center in Europe with a total area of 800 thousand square meters. The main goal of the EuropaCity project is a merging of dense urban areas with large open spaces around. In the spring of 2013 the winner of the international architectural competition for the development of this project, was announced the Danish company Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
The competition for the design of Europa City was an international invited competition. Four international architectural teams were invited to participate: Bjarke Ingels Group (Denmark), Manuelle Gautrand (France), Snøhetta (Norway), and Valode & Pistre (France). The decision process consisted of two phases. The first aspect considered how well each group accounted for an inclusion of Europa City within the greater area of Roissy-en-France and within the public development project already taking place in and around Gonesse. The second stage focused more directly on the architectural sketch itself.
LOCATION
The project location was determined to be in the northern suburbs outside of Paris, in Triangle de Gonesse. While the region is currently largely agricultural, it also falls along the route from the Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris and is, therefore, an area that attracts a heavy amount of traffic.
The creation and implementation of Europa City will take place as part of a wider development known as the Triangle de Gonesse urban project. The purpose of this development is to provide a connection between urban Paris, the suburbs, and the surrounding farmland. The ideal project design is one that seeks to facilitate and foster the connections between these diverse, but interdependent areas through the creation of a dense, urban development Additionally, the development will seek to combine the efficiency of the urban setting with the healthfulness of country living.
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Materials provided by Bjarke Ingels Group