Place de la République

Our redesign of Place de la République transformed the space and re-defined the entire neighbourhood in a major regeneration project for the city of Paris.

Location Paris, France | Client City of Paris, Highways Department | Architects TVK Architectes Urbanistes | Associate Landscape Architect AREAL | Size 3.3 hectares | Status Completed 2013 | Tags Public Realm and Infrastructure, Parks and Civic Spaces

This exciting project restored the “Place”, as it is now fondly called, to its civic role as a plaza where people can relax, eat, walk and perform, and exercise their right to voice political opinions.

Once a vibrant and active urban plaza, the Place de la République had been crushed by the demands of modern mobility. Roads carrying tourist buses, taxis, cyclists, cars and municipal buses surrounded the square, making it a congested and fractured transitional space. Around 114,000 subway commuters had to cross the heavy traffic each day. The square had lost its local character and urban significance.

Place de la République has a long history. During the reign of Charles VIII, the area was the location of Temple Gate, one of the major entry points through the city wall. In 1853 it was transformed, as part of the Hausemann plan, into its current rectangular shape. In 1880 the statue of Marianne, the personification of the French Republic, was made the centerpiece of the plaza. However, during the 1960s and 1970s it became neglected as Paris developed.

By the early 2000s, all references to the historic gateway into the city and any cultural significance had been erased by the imperative that it function for traffic only. It was a noisy, dirty, polluted and dangerous intersection and certainly no place for people to linger or meet.

Fortunately, its historic framework - a space framed by contiguous buildings of a similar height and created street-walls - had preserved the rectangular space. However, the ground level was dominated by cars and asphalt. All that remained of an older, historic square were bosques of London Plane trees in various states of health.

A key part of the project was working with the city’s traffic engineers within the political framework to re-route the traffic.

We were supported by TVK Architects in Paris and achieved agreement on abandoning the traffic circle, allowing us to connect the island back to the city, while retaining the historic footprint of the plaza. The site was extremely complex in terms of the infrastructure and mobility.  The square is above a subway with multiple entries, so we had to consider structural weight as well as connections to all the existing infrastructure.

By relocating the bus stops closer to the metro station and away from the statue of Marianne, we created an open stage with Marianne front and center. Traffic has been routed through the shaded area of the square to free up a large pedestrian area in the sunny part. By closing the connecting street, Rue de Faubourg du Temple, we created a continuous pedestrian corridor that is a true extension of the neighbourhood. Before, the area was 2/3 traffic, 1/3 pedestrian, and the project has reversed this, creating a total of 2 hectares of pedestrian space.

We worked closely with the city parks department to preserve all the healthy existing trees.

From 83 trees on the esplanade and 142 around the perimeter, there are now 97 trees on the esplanade and 154 around the perimeter. Most of the trees are planes, with 18 honey locust trees and a single wild cherry to represent secularism.

The extra vegetation will help to maintain a more even temperature for year-round enjoyment of the square. In the summer, breezes are cooled by the sheets of water in the centre and west of the esplanade. In the winter, cold winds are mitigated by the thicker vegetation to the north of the square.

Minimalist paving ensures the historic statue dominates the area. The surface consists of paving slabs of different colours and sizes. Large slabs in the centre give a wide perspective for largescale uses of the area, with medium slabs along the concourse, and smaller slabs marking the north and south pavements. The shady areas of the square are generally paved in darker colours to absorb warmth, while the open central areas are paved in paler reflective colours.

By unifying the disparate parts of the site and redirecting vehicular traffic, we have reclaimed a large functional space that serves residents, commuters and tourists and adapts to serve a range of activities. The plaza seamlessly transitions from urban boulevard to weekend or evening market, from rock concert to film festival, from summer festival to winter ice-skating rink.

Place de la République is now the largest pedestrian square in Paris. It no longer floats in a sea of traffic, but has become an integral public space for the 11th arrondissement and Le Marais.

Photographs: Clement Guillaume