The Paris 2024 Olympics offer architectural and construction companies a unique opportunity to blend functionality with innovation and cultural heritage. This event showcases a harmonious mix of sustainability, modern aesthetics, and national pride, with notable structures like the historic Grand Palais and the newly built Aquatics Centre standing out as prime examples.

With 35 venues, 95% of which are existing or temporary, the Paris Olympics highlight several architecturally significant sites among the refurbished Paris landmarks. One of the two new structures is the Adidas Arena.

Adidas Arena
The Adidas Arena at Porte de la Chapelle is the only purpose-built arena for the Olympics, designed with sustainability at its core. Created by French studios SCAU and NP2F Architectes, the arena accommodates 8,000 spectators and will host badminton and rhythmic gymnastics. Key sustainable features include solar panels, a rooftop garden, and seats made from recycled plastic bottle caps.

A striking detail of the arena is its glass railings. These railings are made of two 12-millimeter-thick tempered glass panes, covering over 480 linear meters throughout the arena.

Grand Palais
The Grand Palais, located on the banks of the Seine River at the Champs-Élysées, is a Paris landmark known for its iconic glass and steel structure. Originally built in the late 1800s, the Grand Palais underwent its first restoration project in 2021 to upgrade the vast glass-roofed atrium in time for the Olympic Games. The facility will host fencing and taekwondo events.

France-based Chatillon Architectes led the restoration, aiming to preserve and celebrate the original design. This was the first major renovation of the facility outside of the Nave’s glass roof and several foundations. The Nave’s glass roof, the largest such structure in Europe, reaches a height of 150 feet under its dome and spans around 650 feet in length. The restoration replaced the original 17,500 square meters of obscured glass with clear glass, including double-glazed windows in the building’s glass vault.

Aquatics Centre
The Aquatics Centre, designed and built by Bouygues Batiment Ile de France, Dutch studio VenhoevenCS, and France-based Ateliers 2/3/4, is a modern facility that will host artistic swimming, diving, and water polo. It features a timber structure and a 262-foot-long cross-laminated timber swooping roof housing photovoltaic panels, making it one of France’s largest urban solar farms. These panels supply 20% of the facility’s energy.

The design team favored Douglas fir and spruce over ordinary structural materials like steel to reduce carbon emissions, as wood is a bio-based construction material. The structure’s louvered façade combines glass and glue-laminated timber. The pool area is flanked by glass walls that allow sunlight to flood the event space. Cécilia Gross, architect partner and director of VenhoevenCS, noted that blackout blinds will cover the glass during the Olympics to accommodate TV broadcasts.