1forus. A landmark for Paris’ Olympic Bid
International architectural competition
Client: Ville de Paris / French Olympic Committee
Year: 2004
Place: Paris, France
Competition entry
What does it mean to see and be seen in a contemporary metropolis? The idea behind the landmark project for the Paris Olympics is that seeing a contemporary city increasingly means looking through things, obtaining information about its past and future, and being transported out of time and space. The “1forus” landmark was conceived as a machine for seeing, imagining a large folded “double-sided” surface that, like Alice’s mirror, transfers different visions at different times: the past, the present, and the future. We decided not to take visitors up high to see Paris but to give them a way to obtain information about the site and, more generally, about the city. The first way of seeing is provided by the ‘skin’ of the landmark, a cladding made of polished stainless steel scales, which in its lower part reflects the surrounding environment while in its upper part, thanks to the different angle of the slabs, it becomes more permeable, scattering symbolic images of Olympic sports and reflecting what is happening inside.
On the upper edge of the structure, a series of lamps with blue filters ensures that the structure can be seen from afar both during the day and at night, becoming a landmark within the city. The interior cladding supports different levels of projected images: in the lower portion, the surface displays a real-time view of the area captured at a height of 21 meters by a set of cameras; in the middle section, images on the history of Batignolles alternate with images recounting the 1908 and 1924 Olympic Games; in the upper section, a presentation of the Olympic concept is shown.
