Tone on Tuesday 222: The athletes’ village in two Olympic Games in Paris

Paris has hosted two Olympic Games, exactly 100 years apart. The 1924 Games were the first to introduce an Olympic Athletes Village. The 2024 Village is more of a mini-city, intended to be the most socially and environmentally friendly yet.

Olympic Village 1924

The early modern Olympic Games, between 1896 and 1920, had no official housing arrangements for athletes. Some stayed in hotels or hostels, others in schools or barracks, and some even slept on the boats they took to the host city.

For the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, the then President of the International Olympic Committee, Pierre de Coubertin, wrote a prototype for the Olympic Village in the form of the ‘General Technical Rules’ for the ‘Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games’.

The village had to “provide the athletes with accommodation, bedding and food, at a fixed rate determined in advance per person and per day…” (Village Guide to the Summer Olympics from Paris 1924 to Tokyo 2020).

The organizers built wooden huts and set up a lodgings center near the Stade Olympique de Colombes, the so-called “Olympic Village”, which allowed the different world teams to stay in the same location, under the same conditions and with shared facilities. (Wikipedia).

Olympic Village 2024

The 2024 Olympic Athletes’ Village is located 8 kilometres north of ‘Central Paris’ on a 51-hectare site spread across three towns: Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis and L’Ile-Saint-Denis. The area had industrial sites, businesses and very poor housing. The choice is well-considered, the intention clear: to breathe new life into one of the poorest parts of the Paris region.

Inside the Perepherique that encloses the 20 arrondissements, is called ‘Paris’, both for tourists and for old Parisians (2m pp). Behind that enclosing ring road lies ‘Grand Paris’ (10m pp), where mayor Anne Hidalgo and many leftists want to put their urban design efforts. The area is home to many migrants and refugees from Africa, who are shamelessly vilified by the French right.

Not only is this location perfect for rehabilitation (a number one priority, which seems counterintuitive), it also has high KPIs for the athletes: 60% can train within the village, 100% can train within 20 minutes of the village, and 85% of athletes are able to reach their competition location in 30 minutes or less.

Designed by Dominique Perrault, the village is intended to be transformed into a new Parisian district, with a new metro station designed by Kengo Kuma, around 2,400 homes and 119,000 square metres of additional facilities and offices after the Games.

Among the many pastel-coloured residential units are individual buildings designed by several innovative studios, including a solid wood office by architecture firm Dream; apartment blocks with gridded wood and concrete structures clad in reflective terracotta tiles, designed by Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés; design firms Concepto and Studio 5.5 have also installed 350 streetlights made from recycled scaffolding poles and lampposts (Deezeen).

One sustainability failure was the air conditioning story. Originally, the village was not supposed to have any air conditioning at all, but would be cooled by geothermal connections deep underground. But several countries, notably the US, had concerns about its effectiveness and potential failure leading to heat effects on athletes. They brought their own units.

In response, the French organizers installed 2,500 AC units. Temporarily. Until those Americans (who invented AC via Willis Carrier in about 1924) go home. Then they can go back to the original idea, for what looks like a stunning innovation in social housing.

Coda: Last night, just as we were going to the printer, ArchDailythe hero site for hero photos, published an excellent article about the Paris Olympic Village in 2024. Compare the two here.

Image title: Olympic villages Paris 1924 – 2024. Image

Next week: Our own Olympic Athletes Villages – Melbourne (disappointment), Sydney (big disappointment), Brisbane (criticism of the appointment).

This is Show on Tuesday #222, July 30, 2024. Researched and written by Tone Wheeler, Architect / Adjunct Prof UNSW / President AAA. The views expressed are his own. Past Show on Tuesday columns can be found here. You can Contact TW via (e-mail address).