Paris, France

This September, the temporary artwork “L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped” (Project for Paris) will be on view in Paris, following a major exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2020, retracing the years of artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude in the city and as Christo wished this project to be continued after his death.

The wrap installation is spearheaded by schlaich bergermann partner providing the structural design and structural consulting, as well as Jörg Tritthardt and Dirk Richter of büro für leichtbau.

The Centre des monuments nationaux, the government institution that manages the Arc de Triomphe, is pleased about the realization of a project that demonstrates its commitment to contemporary creation and that honors one of the most emblematic monuments in Paris and in France.

L’Arc de Triomphe wrapped will use 25,000 square meters of recyclable polypropylene fabric in silvery blue, and 3,000 meters of red rope of the same fabric.

Schlaich bergermann developed the structural concept for the art installation at The Arc de Triomphe, which aims to fix the silvery blue, recyclable polypropylene fabric and the red ropes and secure them against wind loads.

The supporting substructure for this work of art had to meet the strict requirements for the monument’s protection.

To this end, a substructure of steel trusses and a ring of pre-stressed steel cables were designed.

The specifications for the supporting structure resulted from the artist’s ideas, which he developed in various drawings.

As requested by the monument preservation authorities, as few permanent changes as possible, such as drilling holes, were to be made to the Parisian landmark.

The basic planning includes precise measurement of the structure and the set-up of a digital model, which was used as the basis for the design process.

During construction design, ready-to-build details that met all the requirements were developed in close cooperation with the construction company.

For this purpose, a partial mock-up of The Arc de Triomphe on a scale of 1:2 was built in a Parisian suburb.

In 1961, three years after they met in Paris, Christo and Jeanne-Claude began imagining and creating temporary works of art in public spaces.

In 1962-63, Christo made a photomontage of the Arc de Triomphe wrapped, seen from the Avenue Foch, then, in 1988, a collage, before working again and developing the project from 2017.

Almost 60 years later, the project will be concretized.

L’Arc de Triomphe is scheduled to run from September 18th to October 3rd, 2021.

Project: “L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped”
Engineers: schlaich bergermann partner(sbp gmbh)
Fabrication Consultants: Tritthardt + Richter büro für leichtbau and Wacker Windingenieure
General Contractor: Charpentiers de Paris
Client: CVJ Corporation (Christo und Jeanne-Claude)