The upcoming Maine Montparnasse area reveals itself

In case you forgot it, the Montparnasse Tower will be entirely brushed up in 2023, so will the Maine-Montparnasse area, impressive vestige of the 1960’s.

This Thursday July 11, 2019, Paris city Hall has selected the project created by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) wishes to “celebrate the inherent qualities of the place, its cultural calling and the railway station area while dramatically transforming its image: a more lively neighborhood, more accessible and more sustainable”.

All right, it sounds great on the paper but what will the neighborhood look like?

Towards a pedestrianization of the Montparnasse area

The idea was “to open the site in light of the natural pedestrian movements made to cross the place”. As a result, diagonal pedestrian streets, a way to stage the area in a Haussmann and very Parisian approach, as well as restoring the natural ground level of the site.

According to RSHP, the importance was to give “Parisian town planning” back to this neighborhood that has been altered by the Montparnasse railway station while settling it in the 21^st century with its environmental issues. The biggest innovation being the pedestrianization of the starting street, excluding for public transportation!

Towards a greener Montparnasse area

The Montparnasse area by RSHP aims at becoming a neighborhood thought to offset the global warming. 2000 trees will be planted will minerals over 10,000sqm.

Restoring the natural ground level is very hard. There will be wooden structures. The urban shape counts, but we have to work with the budget constraints and the owners’ ideas.

Towards a more cultural Montparnasse area

With this change, the owners of the Maine-Montparnasse area and the City of Paris want to boost the neighborhood’s image and give its cultural area image back. Of course, stores will be kept, some will move, but they won’t become larger.

The answer can be mostly found at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal from July 12 to September 1, 2019. In a small area of this Information and documentation center devoted to town planning and Paris architecture (the HQ for Parisian architects), the new project can be seen with a model, maps and inspiration video are available to wait until you can see the result in 2030.