The novelist Émile Zola called the former market halls, which were completed in 1851, the »belly of Paris«. In 1969, the market was relocated to the periphery; four years later the cast iron structure was demolished. The belly had become a heart – where three suburban lines and five rapid transit lines intersect. In 1979, Les Halles, Paris’s largest shopping centre, opened. To visually connect the three subterranean levels with the ground level, Claude Vasconi and Georges Pencreac’h cut a funnel-shaped square out of the building massing.
In 1986 the park – which is situated above a swimming hall designed by Paul Chemetov – is completed. But the »Forum les Halles« is never completely adopted by the people of Paris: the Forum and park remain separate entities, and the historic stock exchange building – which had been the culmination of Baltard’s central axis, was robbed of its urban point of reference.
In 2007, an international competition for a re-conception of the entire complex was held: a new building for the Forum, an extension of the underground suburban station with additional entrances, and a redesign of the park. Paris-based architects Patrick Berger and Jacques Anziutti submitted the most sensitive and operationally feasible project (the transportation hub and shopping centre must remain open during the entire 3-year construction phase) and won. But the »Forum les Halles« is never completely adopted by the Berger’s formal vocabulary is derived from an analysis of all of the sites diverse parameters: the flow of pedestrian traffic, for example, led to the rounded corners of the wings. The latters’ curved eaves echo the surrounding mansard roofs. (Frank Kaltenbach)
In 1986 the park – which is situated above a swimming hall designed by Paul Chemetov – is completed. But the »Forum les Halles« is never completely adopted by the people of Paris: the Forum and park remain separate entities, and the historic stock exchange building – which had been the culmination of Baltard’s central axis, was robbed of its urban point of reference.
In 2007, an international competition for a re-conception of the entire complex was held: a new building for the Forum, an extension of the underground suburban station with additional entrances, and a redesign of the park. Paris-based architects Patrick Berger and Jacques Anziutti submitted the most sensitive and operationally feasible project (the transportation hub and shopping centre must remain open during the entire 3-year construction phase) and won. But the »Forum les Halles« is never completely adopted by the Berger’s formal vocabulary is derived from an analysis of all of the sites diverse parameters: the flow of pedestrian traffic, for example, led to the rounded corners of the wings. The latters’ curved eaves echo the surrounding mansard roofs. (Frank Kaltenbach)