Architecture company Gustafson Porter + Bowman’s new design for the grounds around the Eiffel Tower features an increased amount of pedestrian and green space. (Image courtesy of Autodesk.)
Architecture firm Gustafson Porter + Bowman was named the winner of a competition to redevelop the Eiffel Tower’s “grand site.” The firm’s final design for the iconic site turns the traffic-isolated and shadeless area into a green space meant to be inviting both to tourists and locals.
The release of the model is the final step in a partnership between Autodesk and the City of Paris: Autodesk created a 3D model of the site surrounding the tower, so that the city could give the competing firms an accurate site model.
The collaboration started with a meeting: Nicolas Magnon, Autodesk’s VP of AEC Strategic Marketing, visited the deputy mayor of Paris and the then-governor of the Paris region, and showed off the capabilities of BIM and simulation. “I showed them how they could use BIM to simulate flooding in the city, if, at some point, they need to evacuate the Louvre and save the Mona Lisa if it gets flooded,” recalled Magnon. “They were amazed by what BIM can do at the city level.”
One possible area on which the two parties could collaborate was the neglected area surrounding the Eiffel Tower. While the tower attracts millions of visitors every year, the grounds are largely unshaded, feature awkward tourist lineups and unattractive anti-terrorist fencing,…