Lyon, France

Creating a contemporary, vibrant city center attraction, MVRDV was commissioned by Unibail Rodamco Westfield to transform La Part-Dieu, a 180,000-square-metre shopping center, originally built in the 1970s, by rearranging all interiors and adding more space

The transformation also has included the replacement of a redundant car park, the addition of large windows, the redesign of the characteristic old concrete façade, and the addition of an expansive rooftop park connected to the city by monumental stairs.

As the architects state, “Despite the dramatic transformation, the design retains the history of the building.”

The concrete panels that composed the distinctive original façade have been preserved and reused in line with circular economy principles, retaining the pattern of interlocking rectangles that characterized the original building’s striking visual identity.

These concrete panels, which previously were a dull beige, are now fresh and white. They are also replicated on the extensions, with a modern twist; at the entrances and other key locations, the façade “evaporates” to reveal large windows, reinforcing the building’s openness, creating a physical and symbolic gesture heralding the gateway to a revitalized Lyon Part-Dieu.

“The joy of this new façade is the many different things people think of when they see it”, says MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas.

“Perhaps it’s fabric lace, and the edges have burned off; maybe it’s sugar that has dissolved; it could be snowflakes, and they are beginning to melt. All of these evocative images are in stark contrast to the heavy, unfriendly mass that characterized the building before. It turns the old monster into a gracious Grande Dame.”

Another significant element of the transformation is found on the roof: grand staircases rise next to the shopping center’s main entrances, leading to a multi-level rooftop garden that connects three sides of the building.

With restaurants and cafés as well as green spaces, comfortable seating, and play areas for children, these rooftops and terraces become a true piece of the city, connecting parts of the city – including the city’s main Part-Dieu train station – that were previously detached from one another.

People can now take multiple routes through or over the building to cross the vast site; the shopping center becomes a kind of public plateau, a vantage point that allows people to orient themselves within the city.

The transformation of Lyon Part-Dieu shows how the urban mistakes of previous eras can be sustainably assimilated into the modern city.

Rather than demolish and build anew an area that is the equivalent of around 12 city blocks, the design retains the existing structure, including much of its façade, and avoids the significant amounts of embodied carbon that rebuilding would otherwise create.

Project: La Part-Dieu
Architects: MVRDV
Lead Architect: Winy Maas
Partners in Charge: Bertrand Schippan and Frans de Witte
Design Team: Marion Rabec, Pierre-Emmanuel Escoffier, Catherine Drieux, Antoine Muller, Daniel Diez, Maxime Cunin, Clara Cahez, Jean-Rémy Houel, Leo Stuckardt, Saskia Kok, Boris Tikvarski, Paul Mas, Paul Sanders, Julius Kirchert, Andrei Pedrescu, Karolina Szóstkiewicz, Ana Melgarejo Lopez, Clémentine Artru, Clementine Bory, Davide Salamino, Séverine Bogers, Marie Saladin, Francesco Barone, Pierre des Courtis, Michael Labory, Solène de Bouteiller, Jordanne Alaimo, Bastien Legros, Camille Ghielmetti, Mariana López Reyes, Javier Cuenca Solana, Miriam Gallerani, Irene Todero, Pauline Dupont Lhotelain, Sanne van der Burgh, Jill Pichon, Edgar Gervason, Wael Borghol, Sylvain Totaro, and Manon Vajou
Photographers: Ossip van Duivenbode