Discover the parallels between Paris’ Parc Andre Citroën and Chicago’s Grant Park in Chicago Architecture Foundation Lecture Hall, 224 S. Michigan Ave., on Friday, May 10, at 5:30 p.m.
The Grant Park Advisory Council will present a case study of Park Andre Citroën in Paris. French architect Jean-Paul Viguier will present slides and a lecture on the park which is along the banks of the Seine River.
Viguier is an internationally distinguished French modern architect. He is currently completing the Hotel Sofitel on Wabash and Chestnut streets.
Viguier will discuss how the Grant Park design evolved and the relations with Paris officials and planners. He’ll explain how he was able to remove physical barriers at the edge of the Park so as to take advantage of the riverfront site.
The 32-acre Park Citroën is the largest constructed since the Second Empire. It is situated in the heart of the new urban quarter, on the previous site of the Citroën automobile factories.
The park is organized around a central vide, a vast rectangle measuring 321 x 130 meters, perpendicular to the River Seine. This disposition, also seen in the major parks on the left bank, Jardin des Plantes, Invalides, Champ de Mars, extends the territory of the city one kilometer westward.
The central lawn extends unobstructed to the banks of the Seine due to a viaduct created to carry the railways of the rapid transit system. This configuration is unique in Paris.
At the opposite end of the lawn from the Seine, an inclined plaza serves as the base for two twin green houses 15 meters high and 45 meters long between which rises a peri-style of water creating a backdrop for the perspective towards Rue Balard.
The structure of the park is defined by an axial hierarchy; the grand canal, the pedestrian diagonal to one side, the serial gardens and water cascades to the other. There are also linkages between the water cascades on the west and the opposite serial gardens.
Water is omnipresent: fountains, water courses, the elevated grand canal, and water basins surrounding the central lawn. As with Grant Park, the issue of waterfront pedestrian access with the barriers of autoways and railroads presented a challenge.
For more information, contact Bob O’Neill of GPAC at (312) 829-8015.
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