(Rather) wild nature

Some five years ago I made a post, see here, about what was supposed to become the 2012 Olympic Village, if Paris had been chosen (London got it and made it to a success). Instead it was decided that this area, quite close to where I live, should be transformed to a big park, surrounded by housing, offices and the new Palace of Justice. The park is referred to as “Clichy-Batignolles”, or in its full name ”Parc Clichy-Batignolles - Martin Luther King”.

Since my last “report” a lot has bee done and a lot is ongoing. You can see building cranes all over. Much is under construction, but a number of buildings are already ready and occupied. Everything is very ecological with solar panels on the roofs, wind turbines, rainwater harvesting in the park etc…

A new part of the park was recently opened, more or less doubling it space. But maybe first some explanations, as often by me, expressed by some mapping, plans…

Here is a view of the city plan from 1860 and also of the railway shunt yard this used to be, surrounded by a soap factory, by a slaughter house – since long disappeared – and we can see that the defensive Thiers Wall was still there (demolished during the 1920’s – some traces still left and conserved - see again here)….

This is what the area looks like today / is going to be within a few years. We can notice the new addition to the park (ready), a prolonged no. 14 metro line with a stop - “Pont Cardinet”, the future Palace of Justice… and what will remain - the Opera Warehouse for scenic equipment, designed by Charles Garnier (better known for the “Opera Garnier” (see here), the Casino in Monte Carlo (see here) etc…, including a more neglected building on Boulevard Saint Germain (see here)).

The newly opened part of the park offers some playgrounds…

… but also a surprisingly wild looking part (see also top picture).

The park reaches in its north les Boulevards des Maréchaux (Marshals) and the above mentioned Opera Warehouse. As a reference to the old shunt yard, some rails have been conserved.

The older and the newer part of the park, already connected, will later be connected by a building under construction, under which some trains will still be able to pass.

To finish, here are some photos of the part of the park which now has been there for seven years, very popular some sunny spring days. 

What could have been the Olympic Village - Clichy-Batignolles

I already made a post about a new park in the 17th arrondissement, not far from where I live. It was opened in 2007 and has since been baptised “Parc Clichy-Batignolles Martin Luther King”. We are in the area which was supposed to become the Olympic Village, if Paris had been chosen for the 2012 summer games (now we must wish good luck to London). The plans have been slightly revised and there are now rather firm plans of what will happen here in the next four or five years.

This is what the area, "Clichy-Batignolles", may look like when the project is completed. Some 3500 apartments plus some 100.000 m² (25 acres) of office space, commerce, schools, gymnasiums... are planned, as well as a prolongation of a metro line (line 14). The park installations will be considerably enlarged. Everything will be planned “ecologically”.

I made the tour of the area the other day. A large part has been occupied by services linked to rail cargo – including what already is a park. The demolition of existing installations is now ongoing. There seems to be a good chance of getting some nice views when you later live, work or just walk around here.

One of the few buildings which will remain is the warehouse for our Opera’s scenic equipment. It dates from 1895 and was designed by Charles Garnier, the creator of “Opéra Garnier” (and the Casino in Monte-Carlo etc...) (see previous posts). Part of the building is today occupied as a second scene by “Odéon – Théatre de l’Europe”.

Just behind this building you can find one of the few remainders of the last walls surrounding Paris, the Thiers Wall, built 1841-44 and destroyed 1919-29, without ever having really served. However, when it disappeared it offered space to build the boulevards that now run around Paris (“Boulevards des Maréchaux”). It seems that these remains of the wall will be saved.

Very close, there is additional trace of this wall, which has been saved and integrated in another new, small park, "Jardin des Hauts-de-Malesherbes”, close to the “Green Tower” (see previous post). You can read the construction years 1842-43.

I ended up my tour in what is already a park, now about two years old. (See also top picture.)