Archi-Folies 2024: 20 ephemeral pavilions for Paris Olympic Games

Designed by the Ministry of Culture, the Archi-Folies 2024 project, labeled Cultural Olympiad, is ambitious: have the national schools of architecture and landscape design and implement 20 ephemeral pavilions that will host sports federations during the Games. After a year 2023 dedicated to the architectural design of the pavilions, the year 2024 is devoted to their manufacture.

The pavilions, which were inaugurated on June 13, 2024 at parc de la Villette are conceived as meeting places between architecture and sport. Canoeing, rowing, pentathlon, archery… Many sports federations are represented in constructions while poetry. The operation echoes the spirit of the famous «follies» that made the reputation of the architect Bernard Tschumi, and that punctuate the Parc de la Villette. Their innovative architecture should also embody the Olympic values defined around 7 strong markers of the Paris 2024 Games: iconic, ecological, committed, equal, inclusive, sober and unifying.

A collaborative and innovative educational project

To create the pavilions, the Ministry of Culture called on the 20 national graduate schools of architecture and landscape (ENSA). This innovative project, of unprecedented scale, is a golden opportunity for student architects to implement their imagination, the know-how gained during their studies, and practice «constructive culture». The collaboration of each ENSA with a sports federation is an opportunity for students to work on the imagination of sport and to confront the act of building.

The exhibition of the model pavilions in summer 2023

An important milestone of this 18-month journey, the exhibition of sketches and models of the pavilions was held in the Paris-Malaquais School of Architecture (July 7-20, 2023). It was an opportunity for the students to dialogue with each other, and to nurture a spirit of emulation. The models installed under the glass roof of the Palais des Beaux-Arts have revealed the diversity and beauty of the approaches proposed.

Collective intelligence at work 

To carry out their projects? the students, accompanied by their teachers, also experience a wide collaboration with the different actors and partners of the project. With the sports federations, first, in order to best reflect the identity of the sport welcomed while making the place as functional as possible. With the project leaders and main partners then – the Ministry of Culture, La Villette, the Grands Ateliers, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) – to set up the regulatory framework of the operation, follow the financing of the many sponsors, and coordinate the different phases of prefabrication and construction.

Eco-responsible projects

To go as far as «life size» construction is to force oneself to think up to the materiality of the pavilions. To add a little more to the scale of the challenge posed by the Archi-Folies, architectural projects, anxious to be in phase with the ecological transition, thus respect constraints in terms of materials and techniques. They must be exemplary and inspiring architectures, made with innovative materials or reuse, demonstrating the ability of schools to innovate in the face of ecological issues. In line with the Legacy and Sustainability Plan of Paris 2024, the pavilions will be dismantled and relocated after the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the benefit of local authorities and other partners. Some federations even intend to have them to promote their discipline.