Architecture students design Olympic fan zones for Paris suburbs
How can people living outside the centre of Paris get the most out of the Olympic Games? French architecture students sought to answer the question by designing portable fan zones for the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
Mini Maousse is a small-scale design competition for students of architecture, art, design and landscaping that has been running for the past 20 years.
Fiona Meadows, the architect in charge of the competition, told RFI that for the 2024 edition, "the challenge was to create a nomadic mini fan zone that would move around the city of Saint-Denis during the Olympic Games".
Among the 200 entries, 30 were selected for the exhibition "When the city plays games", now on show at Paris museum the City of Architecture and Heritage.
Olympics in Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis is a working-class suburb in the north of Paris that will host competitions during the Olympics and Paralympics Games, as well as the new Olympic Aquatic Centre and Athletes' Village.
Despite its involvement, the suburb is still far from fan zones – centres for wider community access to the Games outside official venues. Thirty are planned across the Paris region.
"The idea was to create something that would be very close to neighbourhoods in the areas furthest away from the fan zones or the stadium to encourage people to do sport," explains Meadows of this year's competition.
Read more on RFI English
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