A 4-STAR HOTEL ON A “GREEN TERRACE” as a connection between two Paris train stations
The city of Paris and the SNCF (French National Railway Company) wished to optimize the connections between Gare de l’Est Station and Gare du Nord Station through the rearrangment of the Alsace-Street, which is crossed every day by about 6 000 users.
This crossroads between various means of transportation (Bus, Subway, RER-Regional Express Network) has required a rearrangement both for adapting the urban environment level and for up-grading the quality level of the accessibility between both stations.
More widely, the will is also to conceive stations as a place to live, and to use it as catalysts of urban economic dynamism. (In addition, our project will be located along platform n°1 of Gare de l’Est Station, which will soon connect Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport with Gare de l’Est Station).
This project thus responds to an urban challenge ; but also to a political issue, since it contributes to the objectives of the city of Paris to achieve 100 hectares of green plantings by 2020. It also responds to a security issue: our equipment will fill an 8-meters high empty space and volume between Alsace-street and Gare de l’Est Station.
The new building will host a 4 stars-hotel with 170 keys, under a 2,600 m² platform of public garden.
Our project is fitting the entire shape of the site, a former forsaken wasteland between the railways and the retaining wall of Alsace-street.
Escalators will be installed between the new building and the retaining wall to create the connection between both stations.
The garden is planted on the roof upon 1,50 meters of soil for real sustainable plantations. It will reach the level of Alsace Street in order to keep the sight clear.
The complexity of the project lies in its unusual location: along the railways and above an underground subway.
The glass canopy along the subway dock is located at 40 cms from the perimeter of our project. Thus, a crane or any other machine could hardly be used for works. All items shall be prefabricated within a factory, delivered piece by piece and put together on site.
The existing subway below our building involves a very specific structural design: for avoiding drilling to interfere with the underground tunnel, we had to set up a system of deported deep special foundations.
We also had to design effective solutions to eliminate acoustic and vibratory nuisances from trains passing below and next to the hotel. The acoustic system is strengthened within the facades thanks to thick walls and double frames with vacuum. The foundations are put on spring box preventing any transmission of vibration.
Preparatory work have started in June 2016; the hotel is scheduled to open in 2019.
By SLA Architecture
