The future Maine Montparnasse district unveiled!

In case you've forgotten, the Tour Montparnasse will be totally transformed in 2023, along with its Maine-Montparnasse district, an imposing 1960s relic in the Parisian environment.

This Thursday, July 11, 2019, Paris City Hall selected the project by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP), which aims to "celebrate the intrinsic qualities of the site, its cultural vocation and station district, while radically transforming its image: a livelier, more accessible and more sustainable district".

Okay in principle, but what's the neighborhood going to look like then?

A more pedestrian Montparnasse

The idea was "to open up the site by looking at the natural pedestrian movements made to cross the site". The result is diagonal pedestrian streets, a way of scenographing the space in a very Parisian Haussmannian approach, but also a restoration of the site's natural ground level.

For RSHP, the important thing was to restore "Parisian urbanism" to this district, which had been denatured by the Montparnasse station, while anchoring it in the 21st century with its environmental challenges. The biggest innovation is the pedestrianization of the rue du départ, except for public transport!

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A greener Montparnasse

RSHP's Maine-Montparnasse district aims to become a district ycompensating for global warming the heat, 2,000 trees planted with minerals, on an area of over 10,000m2 of plant space above and at street level.

The work involved in restoring ground level is very difficult. There will be timber frames. Urban form is important, but we have to work within the budgetary constraints and ideas of the owners.

A more cultural Montparnasse

With this change, the owners of the Maine-Montparnasse district and the Mairie de Paris are aiming to restore the district's image as a cultural district. Obviously, the shops will be retained, some relocated, but without any increase in retail space.

Part of the answer lies at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal, from July 12 to September 1, 2019. In a small area of this information and documentation center dedicated to urban planning and architecture in Paris (the HQ of Parisian architects), the new project makes its appearance through a model, plans and inspirational videos are unveiled, while we await the result, which should "come out of the ground" in 2030.