Experiencing the Seine

With “Les Berges de Seine”, the City of Paris aims at rekindling appreciation of a public space stretching for 2.3 kilometres along the Left Bank, crossed by five bridges.

The new urban walking route starts at the Musée d’Orsay and ends at the Musée du Quai Branly. It offers different types of recreation based on three main themes: nature, sports and culture.
Berges de Seine. Photo © Maxime Dufour Photographies

Ever since 2010, when the city reactivated the Right Bank with transient summer beaches, Paris has been tenaciously reclaiming the riverbanks, convinced as its administration is that the areas along the Seine have enormous potential that warrants investment in increasing the attraction of these places with urban activities.

For the summer, the city administration already organises the month-long Paris Plages event, where different locations on the river become pop-up beaches. Now it is covering another season – the spring – by giving additional opportunities for conviviality to Parisians and visitors alike.

Berges de Seine. Photo © Maxime Dufour Photographies
Along the Berges, there are spots for relaxation. The Verger is a labyrinthine educational orchard with many different types of trees and plants to admire and observe. The Espace Zen is for yoga, Pilates and T’ai Chi sessions under the guidance of a coach. The Zzz containers, equipped for peaceful types of recreation, offer board games and a picnic service for up to eight people. The Jardins Flottants by Niki de Saint Phalle are five islets connected to one another, forming a small green archipelago on the water.
Berges de Seine. Una pista per correre i 100 m. Photo © Maxime Dufour Photographies
On the embankment along the Seine, there are exhibits of the street artists Sambre, Philippe Baudelocque and Yuri Hopnn. Frenchman Sambre created a second skin for the walls of the quay by using pieces of furniture to make three-dimensional sculptures and segments of collages of interwoven wood scraps that “have the privilege of enjoying a riverside retreat before returning to dust,” as Sambre explains. Baudelocque interpreted a sculpture by Alfred Jacquemart, found in the Musée d’Orsay, by redrawing it in chalk on a large slate surface with the same aesthetic style he uses for his famous series Cosmic Animals, where a meticulously worked mass of cells covers the hides of different animals. Hopnn, who works in Italy and France, offers the public a series of large paintings and posters all featuring the leitmotiv of the bicycle.
Berges de Seine. Photo © Berges de Seine
In addition to the street art exhibits, there are also dance halls where anyone with an iPod can play their own music or choose to connect with and challenge other improvised DJs, giving the public the opportunity to play an active, participatory role. Near the Senghor footbridge, Tipis d'Anniversaire (birthday tepees) have been set up for children, along with sidewalk and wall games, including a giant slab of slate for chalk drawings, just like the ones Baudelocque uses. Close to the Pont des Invalides, a wall equipped for rock climbing allows young adventurers to practice their footwork. Sports-minded visitors will find exercise points all along the route, and as mentioned before, the Espace Zen features instructor-led classes in yoga, Pilates, zumba and fitness, all free of charge. One-hundred-metre sprint paths are marked out, allowing runners to measure their speed.
Jardins flottante. Photo © Maxime Dufour Photographies
The general project was conceived and developed by a multidisciplinary team composed of Didier Fusillier, the director of Lille 3000, who devised the artistic approach; Artevia, in charge of production and coordination; and Carat Sport for the recreational sports activities. The various pieces of architecture are by Franklin Azzi Architecture and the graphics and signage used for the event is by Change is Good. Unique in its genre, this event offers neighbourhood inhabitants, Parisians, tourists, sports fiends, culture buffs and nature lovers a great variety of proposals founded on what the organisers call “a cooperative of ideas”, showing just how abundant creativity in the French capital really is.
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Berges de Seine. Photo © Maxime Dufour Photographies


Les Berges de la Seine
Concept
: Lille3000/ Didier Fusillier, Thierry Lesuer
Design: Azzi Architecture/ Franklin Azzi, Anne Magdalena
Production: CARAT SPORT/Olivier Bischoff, Julie Gavrel
Graphics and communication: CHANGE IS GOOD/José Albergaria, Rik Bas Backer
Organisation: ARTEVIA/Alain Thuleau, Pierre Grand, Annette Poehlmann

 

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