Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Summer Games

Paris, France

Opened in 2024
Event

With an emphasis on sustainable design and the ability for Olympic venues to remain lively, well-used parts of the city’s urban fabric, the Paris Games encapsulated the iconic, historic and mesmeric sites of France's capital with a sports and cultural experience that bonded fans and athletes alike. Paris’ city centre became the ‘Olympic Park’ for the Games and therefore the design of the interstitial or intermediate spaces between the venues became just as important as the design of the venues themselves.

Client

Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Organizing Committee
Disciplines
- Event
Collections
- Olympic Games Venues

Populous’ role in the Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Summer Games covers the entire Olympic cycle from bid to final dismantlement through design development, tender, erection, and operation.

The 2024 Paris bid

Populous’ involvement began much earlier in 2016 when our team was appointed to design the venues and infrastructure required to support Paris’ bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. In fact, Populous managed the bid and blockplan stage for all competition venues.

Design development for the Organizing Committee

Following the successful bid campaign, our team worked closely with the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee to bring the Games to life. This included the incorporation of the Olympic brief received from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to all competition venues as well as advice on the best sites to hold different sports and the overarching strategy for the entire program – partnering with the IOC to take these ideas from high level modern concepts to seamless venue integration with Paris’ rich heritage.

This needed to consider not only what the sporting fans see, such as where particular sports would be played, but just as importantly, the integration of behind-the-scenes infrastructure, including transportation, security, catering, broadcast and multiple other functional areas.

Maximising the potential of existing venues

Following the design development phase, our experienced place-making team were embedded as part of the Paris 2024 Venue Design Team, responsible for overseeing the final design of seven venues within the Île-de-France region, and all seven football venues. This included:

Île-de-France venues:

→ Elancourt Hill – Mountain biking

→ Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelines – BMX stadium and racing

→ Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelines Velodrome – Cycling and Para Cycling track

→ Golf National – Golf

→ Château De Versailles – Equestrian and Para Equestrian, and Modern Pentathlon

→ Marseille Marina – Sailing

→ Vaires-Sur-Marne Nautical Stadium – Canoe Sprint, Rowing and Para Rowing, and Canoe Slalom and Para Canoe

Football venues:

→ Stade de Marseille, Marseille

→ Stade de Lyon, Lyon

→ Parc des Princes, Paris

→ Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux

→ Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne

→ Stade de Nice, Nice

→ Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes

Event delivery

Our team also collaborated with the Games delivery partner to design temporary stands, infrastructure, and event overlays for the preparation of the field hockey at Yves-du-Manoir, the basketball finals and gymnastic at Bercy Arena and the badminton at La Chapelle Arena.

Emphasising France’s rich sporting history

Yves-du-Manoir Stadium is the only venue in France to host the Olympic Games twice. A century prior, this venue hosted the opening ceremony and athletics, among other events, for the Paris 1924 Games. In 2024, it was reimagined for several events, including field hockey.

The Stadium now houses the French Hockey Federation, the Ile-de-France League, the Departmental Hockey Committee, and a resident club. It features two synthetic hockey pitches, one for competitions with a 1,000-seat stand, and another for training, serving as the Federation’s national training center.