For BBC World Service’s program In the Studio, journalist Agnes Poirier has been following Cécilia Gross (VenhoevenCS) and Laure Mériaud (Ateliers 2/3/4/) for over a year. She registered how the two architects watch their winning design for the Aquatics Centre and its pedestrian overpass come to live.

With her recording equipment, Agnes visited the architect’s offices, walked up to Aquatics Centre with them and was amazed by the wooden stadium-in-progress – several times.
The resulting radio-documentary is a highly personal one. Cécilia and Laure explain the competition process, introduce the innovative, legacy-meets-sustainability design and the construction site to Agnes, complementing each other, well matched.
Also, Agnes was there when the pedestrian crossing over the A1 was put into place and caught the architects cheering at that very moment. Well worth a listen!

Get a deep dive on the new Aquatic Centre; have a listen at the half-hour radio documentary here: BBC World Service – In the Studio

In the Studio is a BBC World Service program that “follows the most creative minds in the world, as they develop an idea from its very beginning, through the artistic process right up to the introduction to an audience.”

A sound bite from the Aquatics Centre episode:

 

BBC introduced the documentary as follows:
“In September 2017, The International Olympic Committee announced that a century after France last hosted the Olympics in 1924, the games would be returning to Paris for the third time in its history. The 2024 games, are set to become the most sustainable games to date and are following a new model -which involves only two new construction projects for the entire games – The Aquatics Centre and Olympic Village. The bid therefore to design the only new permanent sports facilities for Paris 2024 was highly sought after.

French journalist, writer and broadcaster, Agnès Poirier, is following the architects who have won this coveted contract – Cécilia Gross and Laure Mériaud.

Join Agnès as she discovers what is special about their design – a project which extends well beyond the Aquatics centre itself and involves transforming the entire surrounding area. They’ve even created a bridge enabling two distinct districts in the north of the city to link for the first time – creating an exciting legacy for this area of Paris.”