By 2024, the space around one of the most recognisable landmarks in the world, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, is going to look very different.
Paris City Hall has recently unveiled its plans for a pedestrian-friendly redesign, in which the city’s largest garden will be created. Currently, the area surrounding the tower is extremely busy with road traffic, and the plan will not only address this issue but also enhance the visitor experience. London-based landscape architects, Gustafson, Porter and Bowman, won a competition to lead the redesign that will significantly transform the surroundings of the iconic tower.
Every year, approximately 30 million people visit the tower, which recently celebrated its 130th birthday, with around seven million opting to ascend it. Therefore, the new plan will transform the Seine bridge, Pont d’Iéna, into a car-free zone, permitting only public transport and emergency vehicles. Moreover, a walk and cycle route will be established, featuring a pedestrianized garden along with two new public squares called Place de Varsovie and Place Branly, alongside restored parkland.
A 1.6km long green space surrounding the Eiffel Tower will be established, positioning it at the heart of a line connecting the Place du Trocadéro, the Palais de Chaillot, the Pont d’Iéna, the Parc du Champ de Mars, and the Ecole Militaire. Remarkably, the €72m ($80.6m) project will be entirely funded by ticket sales from the tower.
Consequently, additional fountains and trees will be introduced to provide shade and help cool the area. Moreover, more ticket offices, kiosks, and baggage storage facilities for visitors will be installed. In an effort to maintain visual appeal, many of these new facilities will be submerged into the ground, while the surrounding lawns will be elevated, thereby preventing cluttering.
“This competition has been especially meaningful to me because I studied in Paris at L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paysage,” says lead architect Kathryn Gustafson. “Every day I passed the Eiffel Tower, on my way to a school where I was immersed in the great historic landscapes of Versailles. The Eiffel Tower reminds me that patrimony means leaving something better for future generations. Our proposal unites a celebration of history with an enhancement of the future.”
