Les Olympiades
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Les Olympiades is a residential towers district located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. It has been built in the frame of the Italie 13 project.
Built from 1969 to 1974, the district consists of several towers built along a huge esplanade, elevated 8 meters from the ground, which is dedicated to pedestrians. A shopping mall, known as the Pagode, stands at the center of the esplanade. Below it are streets dedicated to vehicular traffic. That way, shops and boutiques can easily receive deliveries on the lower level. The main entrance from the residential towers is also located on the esplanade. Though the proportions are more modest, les olympiades are designed similarly to the esplanade of La Défense.
The eight tallest towers are 104-meter tall (341 feet) and are named after cities which have hosted the Olympic games: Anvers (Antwerp), Athènes (Athens), Cortina, Helsinki, Londres (London), Mexico, Sapporo, Tokyo. Other residential buildings, which are wider than they are tall, complete the district.
Les Olympiades were built in order to attract a population of young white-collar workers; it was believed that they would be attracted to this very modern complex offering multiple services (education, sports, etc.). However, many consider the nearly identical towers bland and the complex did not live up to its expectations, and it had problems attracting residents. Yet the complex finally did attract many residents, with the arrival of Vietnamese refugees in 1975, who quickly populated the district. Very often, many families shared the same apartment in order to pay the elevated rents. Afterwards, other refugees coming from South East Asia and today China arrived and progressively opened shops around the neighbourhood, giving birth to what is today the main Chinatown in Paris.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Les Olympiades (emporis)
