If you’re like me and many others you’ve probably been watching the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. We were in Paris last year and we passed the construction site of the Aquatics Centre, one of only three new permanent facilities that was constructed for this year’s Olympics. On a side note, Parisian Uber drivers are some of the most aggressive drivers I’ve seen, replete with honking, hand gestures, and cursing at other drivers and pedestrians in, of course, French. Putain!
In recent history, Olympic construction costs have skyrocketed, often vastly exceeding the planned budgets of the host cities, and, in recent years, has caused even some host city hopefuls to reconsider whether to even throwing their hats in the ring. The 2020/2021Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for example, had an original budget of $7.5 billion. The actual cost was over $13 billion and, depending on what beans you count, may have been over twice that! Paris seeks to change all of this.
With a mean cost to host the Summer Olympics of $8.04 billion, Paris is hoping to come in at $9.7 billion, aided in large part by being an old world city with existing world-class facilities (although for that same reason $1.5 billion has been allocated just to make the Seine clean enough to swim in). As a result, only three new permanent structures were constructed for the 2024 Olympics including the Aquatics Centre, the Porte de la Chapelle Arena where badminton and rhythmic gymnstics will be performed, and the Le Bourget Sports Climbing venue. Here’s a quick look at each of them.
The Acquatics Centre
The Aquatics Centre, located in the northern suburbs of Paris, was built at a cost of $190 million (USD). Designed by VenhoevenCS and Ateliers 2/3/4 and constructed by Bouygues Construction, the Aquatics Centre is modular and has the ability to change from a 5,000-seat venue during the games to 2,500 seats in the future. Constructed predominantly of wood, its roof is covered in photovoltaic panels, making it one of France’s largest urban solar farms and able to supply all of the energy needed for the facility.
Porte de la Chapelle Arena
Porte de la Chappelle Arena, built in the middle of Paris, was built at a cost of $150 million (USD). Sharing sustainable features like the Acquatics Centre, it is built primarily of wood and its exterior is clad in recyclable aluminum. Designed by SCAU and NP2F and constructed by Bouygues Construction, the venue has a capacity of 8,000 spectators and, once the Olympics are over, will serve as the home for Paris Basketball.
Le Bourget Sports Climbing
The Le Bourget Sports Climbing venue, located in the Seine-St. Denis area of Paris, was designed and built by Entre-Prises. The facility has a capacity of 6,000 spectators The open-air venue includes five climbing walls.
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