Beginning December 7, 2004



competition and exhibition project manager: Paris 2012
assistant project manager for the holding of the contest and creation of the exhibition: Pavillon de l’Arsenal
guest scenographers: LAN architecture, Benoît Jallon and Umberto Napolitano, architects


Fixed or mobile structures, inflatable architectures, monoliths, monumental sculptures, observation towers, scaffoldings, giant stairways, ramps and stairs, nacelles, fluorescent ring compositions, stretched canvas towers, diversion of cranes, forest of urban periscopes, light shows, mirror shows, etc. 454 projects, from over 80 countries, for the realisation of the Olympic Landmark in Paris will be on exhibition starting December 7, 2004, at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, the centre for information, documentation and exhibition for urban planning and architecture of the City of Paris.

A remarkable temporary building is intended to mark the Batignolles location, to showcase its Olympian future and reveal its urban potential through a visual landmark at the heart of the location chosen by Paris 2012, the bid committee for the Olympic Games of the XXX Olympiad and Paralympic Games in 2012. The Olympic Landmark will be open to the public at the beginning of 2005 and will host an exhibition centre to introduce Paris 2012 to Parisians and to all visitors.

To meet this challenge, Paris 2012 launched an international architecture competition and mandated the Pavillon de l’Arsenal to act as assistant project manager for the holding of this competition. Open to designers from around the world, anonymous and single phased, this international architecture competition was held entirely on the Web, from on-line registrations, starting June 1, 2004, to the submission of projects on September 6, 2004.

The jury composed of a number of institutions, Olympic and Paralympic champions, and international architects Abalos & Herreros (Spain), Shigeru Ban (Japan), Stefano Boeri (Italy), Eric Carlson (USA), Peter Cook (England), Finn Geipel (Germany), Marc Mimram (France) and Jean Nouvel (France) chose three award winning teams:
- Explorations Architecture : Yves Pagès and Benoît Le Thierry d’Ennequin (France)*, 1st prize;
- ULLS : Cristian Vivas, Jordi Raventos, Gemma Serra (Spain), 2nd prize;
- Achille + C : Emmanuel Bénet, James Tinel, Claude Courtecuisse, Francis Petit (France), 3rd prize
3 teams rated an honourable mention:
Coste - Orbach : David Orbach, Isabelle Coste (France) / Plagaro-Cowee : Natalie Plagaro-Cowee (Spain, United Kingdom) / Rosman–Cartel : Jean-Christophe Rosman, Nikola Brésart, Léonard Gallegos, Jérôme Peteno, (Belgium).

*The design team is composed of Yves Pagès, Benoît Le Thierry d’Ennequin, Henry Bardsley and Jean-François Blassel.


WORK PUBLISHED “454 projects for Paris 2012. International architecture competition for the realisation of the Olympic Landmark, Paris, France”
December 2004 - Co-edition: Pavillon de l’Arsenal and Paris 2012.
Price: 35 euros. 312 pages, colour - format 26/36 cm

EXHIBITION “454 projects for Paris 2012. International architecture competition for the realisation of the Olympic Landmark, Paris, France”
Beginning December 7, 2004, at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, the centre for information, documentation and exhibition for urban planning and architecture of the City of Paris.
21, Blvd. Morland, 75004 Paris – Tel.: 01 42 76 33 97 - www.pavillon-arsenal.com
Entrance is free. Open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10:30am to 6:30pm and Sundays from 11:00am to 7pm.


With the support of CAISSE DES DÉPÔTS ET CONSIGNATIONS