2 playgrounds for Paris

NP2F realized two playgrounds within the “Grand Paris”. The first one is temporary, located in front of the Pavillon de l’Arsenal; the second one, permanent, in Alfortville.

2 playgrounds for Paris
The architectural firm NP2F realized two playgrounds within the “Grand Paris”. The first one is temporary, located in front of the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, it is an essential component of the dialogue that took place with the exhibition. 
The second one, permanent, is built in a ZAC (coordinated developed zone) in Alfortville, within an urban renewal framework.
2 playgrounds
Top and above: NP2F + Thierry Mandoul, "Sport, portrait of a metropolis", Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris
The temporary one, accomplished in collaboration with Thierry Mandoul and the Pavillon de l'Arsenal, refers to the city’s emancipation, its ability to absorb hybrid situations and complex uses, to constantly renew itself.
It focalizes both on a large scale as on fragments indicating the precise impact of sport on the city. The place of sport is not only a technician’s concern, it is a real space in the city, multiple and with a vast potential, regardless of its shape. There is no determinism. Sport, as a personal daily activity, does not occur solely in prestigious surroundings, specific facilities, or in stadiums. It is possible to create sports grounds in a powerful urbanity, without great financial or spatial means.
2 playgrounds
NP2F + Thierry Mandoul, "Sport, portrait of a metropolis", Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris
Inspired by A. Van Eyck and his urban theory of the playground as an element of the in between, the interstice, the void, thus becoming a true urban bond. This playground, completed in the scope of the exhibit “Sport and City” that takes place at the Arsenal pavilion until September 2014, is temporary, modular and can be dismantled.
It is currently located on the Arsenal’s square, but its infrastructure without foundation or excavation, adaptable to the limits and shape of the city plot on which it is built could allow it to be reassembled elsewhere. A playground that becomes urban square with a white line transforming it into a delicate architecture. An archetype of the novel public square that contains the positive energy of sport.
2 playgrounds
NP2F + D’ici là, Evolution ground, Alfortville, Paris

Embedded within the boundaries of the ZAC (coordinated developed zone) Chantereine, the second project, the “evolution” ground of Alfortville, represents a qualitative approach to which we lay claim in this district’s public spaces, and more generally in today’s city. Thus, the playground becomes a truly architectural space, integrated in the urban structure and open to the city’s other practices.

The playground is placed in a patchwork, small public spaces dotting the new territory of the ZAC, thus creating areas of “urban gentleness”. This 2000 square meter piece of city, comprising the two open grounds, thereby answers essential urban stakes: The importance given to detail (ground, morphology, folds and boundaries) allows to offer to the young people of the ZAC, beyond a simple football ground, a “configured” space, space of encounters and exchanges.
2 playgrounds
NP2F + D’ici là, Evolution ground, Alfortville, Paris
Precisely, the ground, part coated, part concrete, is thought as a soft surface, enfolding, backing the perimeter of the sports ground, or receiving the handicapped ramp, inserted as a slight urban hollow.
The football ground is completely surrounded by a welded wire fencing, with a fine transparent lattice, while the “evolution” ground is surrounded by a hybrid enclosure, the wire fence backed in part by a concrete wall, separating it from the nearby cemetery. This ground is open onto the public space, the practices of different sports being the only parts separated by wire fences arranged in a quincunx. Here, the enclosure defines precise uses of the grounds in the heart of the public space, which becomes place of passage and of exchanges.

until August 31, 2014
Sport, portrait of a metropolis
Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris
Program: playground
Curator: Pavillon de l’Arsenal
Invited Curators: NP2F + Thierry Mandoul
Concrete and finishing: Grepi
Lines and marks: Sportcolor/Serpev
Enclosures: Segex
Area: 450 sqm

Evolution ground, Alfortville, Paris
Program: playground
Project managment: NP2F + D’ici là (landscape designers)
Client: city of Alfortville
Enclosures: Segex
Electricity: Ineo
Green spaces: Smda
Concrete and finishing: Grepi
Walls: Sully Batiment
Area: 2,050 sqm
Completion: 2011

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