“The underground of Paris has incredible sense of potentials. By analysing its unknown organes, we could reveal new urban adventures. The underground could support and repair the disconnected puzzle of Paris in some case.”
Haussmann Citynove
Haussmann 2020 propose a five to ten years prospective vision for the historical district of Grands Magasins, iconic site in the heart of Paris, and place ofs Galeries Lafayette with its main boutique. This urban study has for goal the public space quality researches surrounding the Grands Magasins - the heart of Parisian shopping. The main target of this project is to assess the urban condition of Grands Magasins with a particular attention paid to the value of its context as a crossroad between trade and culture, heritage and innovation, local and global. If historically the Grands Magsins’ model has been developed on a total introversion logic, today the will of the project aims to do the opposite by integrating the urban and social dimension in the foreground. The aim of this project is to reveal the existing value of the Grands Magasins (then integrating the Gare Saint Lazare, the Opéra Garnier, the shops and the whole infrastructure,) as well as the international image associated with Haussmann. The ambition of this study, which focuses here on the Galeries Lafayette, will then be to define conclusions applicable beyond the sector itself Haussmann Grands Magasins.
