Danish firm BIG will design an 80-hectare shopping and leisure complex to be built between two Paris airports, Dezeen reports.
EuropaCity is slated for construction in the Triangle de Gonesse, which is located southwest of Charles de Gaulle International Airport and north of Le Bourget Airport.
The commercial development will feature a mix of entertainment and retail businesses presented along a circular avenue. Visitors will be able to move throughout the complex on an electric public transportation system, as well as by bicycle. Special lanes have been incorporated into the design.
BIG has also given consideration to how to make EuropaCity an example of incorporating sustainability into modern design.
The firm’s plans call for using waste heat from cooling plants to heat the site’s swimming pools. Recycled waste water will be used for irrigation and geothermal energy will also be used on the site.
The most striking innovation will be a grassy roof-top park of which BIG said; “We propose to integrate the new facility in the surrounding business district as an urban form that combines dense city with open landscape.”
BIG was one of 12 international firms recently placed on the short list to design a new headquarters and visitor center for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm. Earlier this year, the design studio was given the task of updating the design of the Smithsonian Institution campus in Washington DC.
