During the realisation of two prospective studies for Fnac and Ratp, Gaël Hiétin makes a Merlin (fake newspaper article) about a utopian project.

The Merlin’s goal was to call Fnac, Ratp and Grand Palais to discuss a joint project to build an urban information center dedicated to mobility and culture : An UrbanPeriscope.

TO YOU PARIS !!!

Tonight at the Grand Palais, discover the main principles of a new emblematic urban equipment co-designed by citizens.

Paris finally reveals its urban periscope

To discover under the dome of the Grand Palais the urban simulator, acompass essential to navigating our future megacities

Urban Utopia or a tool essential for any megalopolis ?
Tonight, everyone is invited to experience a new kind of urban project under the glass roof of the Grand Palais. It shows the results of a year of collaborative work revealing the desires and aspirations of a place serving the city.

“A Multi-Service Control Tower”

The goal of this project is to bring the City back to the city dweller by giving it the tools it needs to live it better. A “multi-service control tower”, which allows you to physically approach the city of tomorrow, to reclaim your multiple activities.

It is a nerve center, where all networks, both physical through transport and virtual, converge, made possible thanks to the technological virtuosity deployed. The programmatic work designed by designers turns this space into a compendium of services, regardless of the interests or age of the users.

“A futuristic space for everyone“

His function is multiple, says Gaël Hiétin, at the initiative of the project : “It is a protean urban oasis, a hybrid consumption space; you sit there, work there, alone or in a group, you sit there and rest, nourish your body and mind, plug and disconnect…

We wanted to make it an open and cosmopolitan place just like the city of tomorrow. “
Imagine a gigantic urban periscope connecting the scenes to each other, both literally and figuratively. A place of constant social mixing, where pedagogy and didactics intermingle, so that everyone learns to understand their city through new technologies. There are new sensory and collaborative interfaces placed in intuitive uses and practices.

This place offers material and information resources to find your way around the city. Equipped with mobile terminals, visitors are invited to compile their “Ki-pass” package at will, giving access to the city keys. Thanks to new technologies, the city becomes media ! The aim here is to give people the means to regain their autonomy, the pleasure of sailing and returning to become tourists in their own city.

“Street Lab, a living lab on urban practices”

This evening’s exhibition comes to a close of a year’s research, which took place within a
“co-working space” is brief : the Street Lab.

The project partners – The City of Paris, the Grand Palais, RATP and FNAC – have confronted their vision with that of the city dwellers, invited to express their views on the future of the city.
For one year, experts, designers, architects, planners, partners, francilians and passing travelers participated in this project which draws new ways of using mobility in the maquis of cities.

This collaborative work has helped to identify expectations, desires and connect the city with the future, while placing the city at the center of current concerns : access to the media & culture, the fight against the digital divide, the citizen’s commitment to the environment, sustainable mobility and fair trade…

“A shared concept that is already exported… “

In the coming months, Street Lab will become mobile.
Seduced by this operation, other European megacities are adopting the approach through the Living Lab network (Europeen Network of LivingLabs).

This innovative network in the field of new mobile technologies supports the initiative already shared by Helsinki, Berlin, Prague…

In Paris, it is in 2015 that this emblematic equipment combining physical and cultural mobility should open its doors. First European exclusivity !

THE STREET LAB PARIS EXHIBITION (GRAND PALAIS).
After a year of collaborative workshop open to the public, the Grand Palais presents the results of the Street Lab in the form of an exhibition that simulates the services of a large urban equipment delivered in 2015.

A Brand Lab

The Street Lab simulator is a great laboratory for brands, and offers partners the opportunity to climb up to grasp urban issues. This experience is also an opportunity to compare their visions with those of the “consonant actors”. Together, they imagine the services that will make tomorrow’s life easier.

“A multiple place in the service of urban dwellers”

A place of convergence between mul-timedia par excellence, the urban control tower is open to all actors who wish to communicate and sell information, entertainment, services, “urban refreshments”…

On large, user-friendly and interactive tables, city dwellers can take control of their city by downloading packs related to their needs. We will be able to book our cinema, theater, exhibition… or know the ideal circuit to get there.

“Information is sell in Kilo Bytes“

For the equivalent of the price of one kilo of oranges, the visitor will leave with a ton of information needed to live his city.

These network interfaces also allow you to download the tube of the moment, exchange or print your holiday photos after retouching them on easy photo FNAC. Socio-digital network enthusiasts will be satisfied. They will be able to open an “Open Profile” account allowing them to share their media compilations mixing music, films, books, concert tickets…

Opposite the City Wall, the city art gallery plays the connections between real and virtual. From the polysensory spaces to the sound jacuzzis, to the light box lumino therapy and micro-climatic, designed by ateliergh, everything has been designed to relax the city in search of fullness.

A Media-Bar offers food for mind & body. This urban ship, driven by city dwellers, offers an unprecedented journey into the maze of our daily news papers. Just take the controls!

Architectural concept

A walking area, covered area, train station, tourist information center… what do the architects tell us ? “With this demand for mixing, we have created a giant mecano, mixing shops with places of transit, consultation, decompression,” explains Pierre-Jean Richard, Director of Facilities.

The skyline opens on to panoramic terraces. The volume obtained has a playful air like a “Tetris” or a “Space Invader”, facing the city. The architects also took inspiration from the Nordic buildings for the materials used in this HQE building. Access is through cracks designed like inner alleys, lined with an interactive lacquer of bright green.

The gardens at the heart of the project seem to be coming out of the boulevard like a manned wood.

“A digital vineyard goes to the front. “

The architectural concept is based on the idea of uniting diversity within a tree-like volume. This unique building brings the city back to the human scale that is used to discover many resources.

Space distribution makes it easy to unpack. The means of transport cross it, covered sidewalks seem to continue the street inside the building. This functional mosaic architecture plays on the confusion between exterior and interior spaces.

“A place of hybrid consumption,
driven by solid urban actors”