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Precedent: Parc de la VilletteDesigner: Bernard Tschumi ArchitectsLocation: Paris, FranceClient: Government of FranceBudget: 130 MillionDates of Design: 1982-1983 (ongoing during construction)Dates of Construction: 1983-1995

Canal walkway and folly (source, Tschumi, 1987)

History, Social Setting

- Its was previously home to a complex of abattoirs

- Before 1982, it was one of few remaining undeveloped sites in Paris

- In 1982, a competition was held to design a ‘park for the 21st century’, looking for an architect to oversee

- The purpose of the competition is to develop a complex program of cultural and entertainment facilities as well as obligatory gardens meant to employ cul-tural invention rather than natural recreation

Historical Map (source, Tschumi, 1987)

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Site, Infrastructure

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Site

Major Roads

Major RoadsRail

Highway

Canal

Park specific roads

Site (Source, Tschumi, 1987)

Map of site and major infrastructure

Highway

Design

- The approach taken by Tschumi was referred to as a search for an intermediary – an abstract system to mediate between the site, the given constraints, and another concept beyond city or program (the mediator)- Based on the number of intended elements for the site and the many that were to be built after the landscape project was complet-ed, the site needed to be open in the sense that substitutions and change had to be allowed by the design, it could not be planned specifically and all at once. - Essentially, form had to be independent of function, and Tschumi sought to find an organizing structure that could define the park’s identity without defining its functions or indicating any kind of hierarchy

Site plan including grid of Follies (source, Tschumi, 1987)

Program Development (source, Tschumi, 1987)

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Point, line, and plane axonometric (source, Tschumi, 1987)

- The park consists of three layers, points, lines and surfaces, which are superim-posed on each other, creating a variety of spaces that remain ambiguous to allow many functional possibilities

- The points, termed as Follies, are a series of bright red structures organized in a grid on the site. Each folly has its own separate function. Each folly is based on a 36 foot cube constructed of bars spaced 12 feet apart. The structure is then manipulated, altering the cube and adding some combination of one and two story cylindrical and triangular volumes with stairs and ramps

Design

Renderings of follies (source, Tschumi, 1987)

- The park includes many functions, gardens, sports fields, restaurants, a large science and industry museum, activity of music, a grand exhibition hall, and a rock concert hall

Function

Rendering of walkway (source, Tschumi, 1987) Site plan (source, Tschumi, 1987)

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“The interdependence of three superimposed structures...avoided all at-tempts to homogenize the park into a totality. It eliminated the presumption of a pre-established causality between program, architecture, and significa-tion.”

“The park [rejects] context, encouraging intertextuality and dispersion of meaning”

“La Villette moves towards interpretive infinity, for the effect of refusing fixity is not insignificance, but semantic plurality.

- He has written theories on deconstruction in film, and has applied it to this project as well. He views film as “a segmented world in which each fragment maintains its own interdependence, thereby permitting a multiplicity of com-binations”.

Thought processes

Exploded folly (source, Tschumi, 1987)

Site, application and analysis

- The road implemented into the park introduces a connection between existing metro stops and large roads-The road also provides a structuring axis for the park itself, a line within the parks design parameters as well- The park is fairly ground breaking in the requirements of the park for the competition and naturally the winning entry followed suit; Tschumi designed on the park within his decon-structivist mind set, deriving a functionally ‘loose’ space that was open yet defined, neutral yet filled with conflict. - The problem is its lack of context, which Tschumi believed to be necessary for the sake of the project. Apart from the road, the park is self contained and blocked off by major roads, allow-ing itself to be divided from its surroundings. This includes a series of sports fields located very close by, a would-be excellent complement to the park.

Aerial photo of park (source, Google maps, 2008)

Plan of Gallerie de la Villette (source, Tschumi, 1987)

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Park photography (source, Gleiniger, 1997)