08.01.2025

Paris 2024: Olympic Games with solidarity and inclusion

Building design

Paris last hosted the Olympic Games in 1924. Image source: Paris 2024

The 2024 Summer Olympics will take place in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024. This will be the third time the French capital has hosted the event after 1900 and 1924. Read everything you need to know about Paris 2024, what this event means for urban planning and public transport and what architecture is planned.

Paris has been awarded the contract to host the Summer Olympics in 2024. They will be held in Paris and several other French cities in July and August 2024. This will be the third time the French capital has hosted the Games after 1900 and 1924. The key to the city’s concept is the use of existing or temporary venues, 95% of which are to be cost-effective and compact.

Paris hopes that the Olympic Games will accelerate regional development, particularly in the Seine-Saint-Denis department. In this young and cosmopolitan area, new infrastructures are to be created and eco-districts built. Renovated local sports facilities and new green spaces will be preserved as Olympic heritage. The Olympic and Paralympic Village in Pleyel (Bord de Seine) and the Media Village will promote urban development in Seine-Saint-Denis through the construction of 4,500 housing units. In total, Paris will have 50 new sports centers, 11,000 new homes, 120,000 square meters of new offices and 10 hectares of green space.

In addition, the Games will play a key role in promoting economic development, reducing regional inequalities and promoting local development. According to the official Paris 2024 website, they will offer training, work and study places to young people living in the area surrounding the Olympic Village. Over 250,000 new jobs will be created in connection with the Summer Games.

Solidarity and inclusion will be at the heart of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Developed in collaboration with Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and social justice expert, the Games will be a project shared by all. They will be at the service of the population and support Yunus’ Triple Zero goals: no poverty, no unemployment and zero net carbon emissions.

To achieve this, Paris 2024 aims to facilitate the social and professional integration of people struggling with unemployment. The organizers will also involve social enterprises in the economic dynamics of the Olympic Games. The Paralympic Games, which are scheduled to take place immediately after the Summer Olympics from August to September 2024, will offer full access to people with disabilities. Paris has set itself the goal of changing society’s view of disabilities. Para-athletes will be put in the spotlight, sporting and cultural events will be held with disabled and non-disabled participants and an “Olympic and Paralympic Week” will be organized in schools.

Another element of Paris’ preparations for the Olympic Games is the improved accessibility of transportation through shuttle buses, accessible cabs and wheelchair ramps. Disabled volunteers will also be recruited and trained, and the first 100% accessible Paralympic Village will be created. There will be a 360-degree experience for spectators, including audio commentary and ticket options for accompanying persons.

At the 12th Biennale of European Cities and Urban Planners, the theme was “Cities and the Olympic and Paralympic Games – how can world events benefit the host populations”. A representative of Paris 2024 spoke about the future legacy that the Games will bring to Parisians, in particular the spatial and intangible heritage. The Olympic and Paralympic Village and the Media Village will form two new urban areas near the new Grand Paris station. The construction of the Olympic Aquatics Center, with its high energy efficiency and seats made from plastic waste, and the renovation of the sports facilities will provide residents with valuable sports facilities. In terms of intangible heritage, the Olympic Games will create a more sporting society that values inclusion and solidarity.

Another important part of the Olympic legacy in Paris will be the environment. The Games will be “green”, including no air conditioning and a riverside opening ceremony. According to the organizers, this will reduce emissions by half and make a positive contribution to the climate.

However, environmental groups are not convinced. The climate impact of the massive new infrastructure and international travel, as well as the strain on resources, are not conducive to making the Games sustainable or “green”. Perhaps they will succeed in halving emissions compared to previous Games – the target is 1.6 million tons of CO2 equivalent compared to the 3.5 million tons average of London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Paris is also trying to limit the construction footprint of the Olympic Games by focusing on existing or temporary infrastructure. Many sites have been chosen for their good public transport links, which should help to reduce emissions. Wherever possible, electricity will come from renewable sources. And the “low-carbon” menus for spectators will include dishes with less meat.

But carbon offsetting is also an important part of the strategy. This somewhat problematic solution does not bypass the root of the problem. Reforestation projects and similar offsetting efforts are difficult to qualify and prone to change. According to the independent monitoring organization Carbon Market Watch, they can distract from more sustainable options and sometimes even have a negative impact on environmentalists or indigenous peoples.

Although efforts to make the Games more sustainable have been welcomed, sports experts point out that no major international event can be truly sustainable. The most sustainable events are the ones that don’t happen. Therefore, the claim that Paris 2024 could even have a positive impact on the climate is misleading, as the event itself will generate climate-damaging greenhouse gases.

An underground water cooling system under the Athletes’ Village, similar to the one that helped the Louvre stay cool during past summer heatwaves (link), will provide an innovative solution to the urban heat. The organizers have studied the heat waves and tested the effectiveness of the cooling system. The aim is to keep the indoor temperature between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius; additional insulation will allow residents to stay cool.

After the Games, which are expected to attract 15,600 athletes and sports officials, the 50-hectare Athletes’ Village site will become a carbon-free, environmentally friendly residential and business district for up to 6,000 people. The first could move in as early as 2025. In this way, Paris 2024 hopes to make a contribution to “Olympic urbanism”.

According to a study published in the journal Nature in 2021, there are three measures that could make the Olympic Games more sustainable: significantly reducing the size of the Games, rotating the Games between the same cities and introducing independent sustainability standards. While Paris does not meet these requirements, it has a much more sustainable, inclusive and climate-friendly approach than the last time it hosted the Games 100 years ago.

03.01.2025

Design

Sculpture of the month: Last heartbeat

Building design

March 2016: The sculpture "Last Heartbeat" made of portobello limestone by Julia Dietrich at the cemetery in Lauterhofen. (Photo: Artist)

At the end of life, the soul departs from the body into eternity. The Protestant pastor of the Lauterhofen parish, Helmut Gerstner, sees this moment in the sculpture that today forms the heart of the newly opened urn community facility at the Lauterhofen cemetery.

At the end of life, the soul departs from the body into eternity. Helmut Gerstner, the Protestant pastor of the Lauterhofen parish, sees this moment in the sculpture that today forms the heart of the newly opened urn communal area in the Lauterhofen cemetery. It is almost impossible to capture the transition from life to death in words. Our sculpture of the month for March 2016 stands for a constructive confrontation with human finiteness, an accompaniment in mourning and a sense of the questions about an intangible afterlife.

Funeral culture today often goes hand in hand with anonymous, low-maintenance urn graves. Although there is also a trend towards individual grave markers, it cannot be denied that the field of activity of stonemasons is changing fundamentally with the transformation of the cemetery. This is nothing new. What is exciting is the different ways in which these cultural development processes are being responded to. There are many positive examples of stonemasons applying their skills to new concepts for the cemetery. They do not resign themselves, they react, design and implement.

Julia Dietrich is a woman of action. The master stonemason and stone sculptor from Reitelshofen in the Upper Palatinate, who currently lives in Munich, sees change not only as a slump in the market for gravestones, but also as an opportunity to help shape the cemetery of the future. For her, the contemporary cemetery is a place that provides space for mourning, but also reflects the diverse culture of our time – and not in a pessimistic sense. Culture should be cultivated! For the designer, the urn communal facility in Lauterhofen should be a place of value – not a run-of-the-mill urn wall. Every visitor to the cemetery could create an individual connection to the memorial site.

The site consists of a spiral-shaped bed – a symbol of the path of life on earth. The limestone sculpture stands centrally at the end of the path. Graphically comparable to an ECG line, which pulsates in life and rests in death, it builds up rhythmically from bottom to top. The last beats of the heart rate finally come to rest in the direction of the sky. The trials and tribulations of life lead to clarity and complete unity with God or nature or whatever everyone imagines the afterlife to be.

Dietrich developed the concept in uncertainty as to whether it would be realized at all. She suggested to the municipality, which had a need for new urn burial sites, that a design plan be drawn up as part of her final thesis. The plan was reviewed by the local council and ultimately approved. Planned and done. When working on her masterpiece made of portobello limestone, she first approached the form by removing the bosses from each of the four sides with the help of an angle grinder, a pneumatic hammer and pointed and toothed chisels. The sculpture was then erected. Julia Dietrich pulled the surface together while standing (toothed irons, grinding stones, files) and finally removed any excess material.

Today, her masterpiece stands in the cemetery – in the place where it was meant to be. Julia Dietrich knew this right from the start. The artist was only satisfied with her work and its impact once the sculpture had been moved to its intended location. “I put a lot of heart and soul into my projects, always with the risk of being disappointed in myself,” she says. “Such tasks involve a long process in which I can learn a lot about myself, my work and my skills – that’s priceless! I also have to think about that when I see my masterpiece standing there now.”

Her contribution to cemetery culture shows a viable future for the stonemasonry trade. The focus should be on good craftsmanship and quality. Selling cheap products from other countries is not an option for Dietrich. “We lose face that way, don’t we? And actually betray ourselves as craftsmen and, above all, as people,” Dietrich emphasizes her convictions. The youthful strength of her words and actions is reflected in her work. And that is precisely what is not out of place in today’s cemetery, but important: joie de vivre and openness to new things! Because death is not only associated with the mourning of the deceased, but also with the celebration of their lives and of life and its manifestations in general.

Find out more about the artist here. Our insider tip: On April 16, 2016, you can get a closer look at Julia Dietrich and her work in the documentary series “Zwischen Spessart und Karwendel” on Bavarian television.

31.10.2024

Gone with the wind

Building design

Various performances and events take place under the roof

The new pavilion at the Design Museum Holon in Israel makes use of the wind. It makes thousands of plastic balls dance on the roof surface.

Israel’s Holon Design Museum, the national design museum, has received a new work of art. The “Cloud Seeding” pavilion by Modu and Geotectura shows that art is not only a social need, but can also be a shared experience. It consists solely of scaffolding and a simple roof construction.

The concept of the pavilion is quickly explained: the roof consists of scaffolding, transparent fabric that spans the roof surface and an air-permeable frame. Thousands of plastic balls or “seeds” made from recycled PET are moved back and forth in this basin by the wind. This results in a fascinating interplay of light and shadow. The construction carries 30,000 balls, which can roll freely across the entire roof surface. The pavilion in the museum’s inner courtyard is used for various events, including public dance classes.

The team found inspiration in the greenhouses that are omnipresent in Israel’s landscape. They have been reinterpreted as a pavilion for culture, leisure and public events.

The architecture firm Modu is based in New York and London and is primarily concerned with design on all scales, from urban planning to interior design, which aims to connect people with their surroundings.

You can see how the concept works in reality here: