It would be easy to assume that Paris might be a city trapped in its architectural past. Its global brand is most often associated with the work of Haussmann from the 19th century. The city itself is almost entirely devoid of modern skyscrapers. And heritage preservation rules are, from what I gather, strict. But look behind and beyond Haussmann's facades, and you'll find a city that is progressive and experimental.
Take, for example, the Bourse de Commerce. Originally constructed in the 18th century as a hall to both store and sell wheat, a recent renovation by Japanese architect Tadao Ando dropped an exposed concrete cylinder right in the middle of it. It is now a contemporary art museum and, in my opinion, one of the most architecturally interesting buildings in the city.
Paris certainly cares about its past — as it should — but it's also not afraid to intervene and break free from it in dramatic ways.
It would be easy to assume that Paris might be a city trapped in its architectural past. Its global brand is most often associated with the work of Haussmann from the 19th century. The city itself is almost entirely devoid of modern skyscrapers. And heritage preservation rules are, from what I gather, strict. But look behind and beyond Haussmann's facades, and you'll find a city that is progressive and experimental.
Take, for example, the Bourse de Commerce. Originally constructed in the 18th century as a hall to both store and sell wheat, a recent renovation by Japanese architect Tadao Ando dropped an exposed concrete cylinder right in the middle of it. It is now a contemporary art museum and, in my opinion, one of the most architecturally interesting buildings in the city.
Paris certainly cares about its past — as it should — but it's also not afraid to intervene and break free from it in dramatic ways.
We are staying in an aparthotel in Paris. We decided on this type of accommodation for a few reasons. One, we wanted a kitchen so that we could prepare meals. Two, we wanted to be able to do laundry, given that this is the last leg of our trip and we almost exclusively travel with carry-ons. And three, we wanted a workspace area.
The options for these criteria are generally aparthotels, serviced apartments, and Airbnb rentals. But we struggled to find a suitable Airbnb that was reasonably priced and didn't feel lived in. So we ended up booking a place from Edgar Suites, which has a really nice portfolio of properties across Paris and other cities in France.
My view is that we will see more of these kinds of properties as cities systematically work to restrict — and sometimes ban — Airbnb. And so a fourth reason I wanted to stay here was to do some market research.
Here's what I can tell you about our stay.
The check-in process was entirely digital. The night before check-in, I received an email with a code for the building, a one-time code for our apartment (for initial validation), and a go-forward code once our check-in had been validated. Everything worked seamlessly.
There weren't many pictures of our exact suite online, so, to be honest, we weren't 100% sure what we were getting. But we knew it was going to be compact. In Paris real-estate speak, it's a two-piece apartment. That means there are two rooms: a living/kitchen area and a bedroom. The bedroom is a generous 3m x 3.5m. And the street-facing window has a nice ledge that can be used for doing one's makeup or as a place for brazen pigeons to land.
The bathroom is a good size (about 1.5m x 2m), and there's also a separate water closet (toilet room). These are extremely common throughout Europe no matter how small the apartment might be. In Canada, these are far less common and only really appear in the top-end of the market. I certainly think they're a nice feature, but I personally wouldn't sacrifice in other areas of a small space just to have it.
The kitchen is more of a kitchenette. Its linear dimension is just under 1 meter (or 3'3"). We've made some fairly elaborate meals in this kitchen, but it certainly requires some jockeying around. It's nice not having to eat every meal out, especially if you're also trying to work.
Opposite the kitchen is banquette seating and a table for everything. It's the dining table, the work table, and the kitchen prep table. It also folds up against the wall if you'd like to have exactly one incremental person come over and sit in this room. Outside of the kitchen/living area is the building's courtyard (see here for plans of the building).
For those of you who also like to nerd out about dimensions, it's about 5.8m in its longest direction, which means that's the separation distance between our kitchen and our neighbor's bed. So even though this is a small space, it is a dual-aspect apartment. The toilet room also has a window opening up onto this courtyard space.
Finally, the laundry facilities are located in the basement of the building. There are two washing machines and one dryer. We've done multiple loads and they've been great. There's also a small gym on the main floor, which I would add to the list of highly desirable amenities for an aparthotel, or any hotel for that matter.
Overall, we've been very happy with our stay. My only comments would be that a larger living space would be needed for longer stays, there's a surprising lack of conveniently placed outlets in the apartment (one of my part-time jobs is charging devices), and better bathroom products would be a nice upgrade. My wife has taught me that desirable bathroom products, including body lotion, are a huge value-add in hospitality.
If any of you have stayed in a great aparthotel or serviced apartment, please share a link in the comments section below. I am betting that they will only become more common for longer stays, family travel, remote work, and people who are less tethered to one place.
When most people think of Paris, they only think of Paris proper, meaning the 20 neighbourhoods that exist within the confines of the Boulevard Périphérique. But as we talked about yesterday, that is quickly changing as a result of new investments in transit, a more porous border (le Périph), and progressive new developments. Greater Paris is transforming itself into a larger and more cohesive urban region, and it is creating what is, in effect, a new Paris.
Because of this, the preconceived notions that many Parisians hold about the areas outside of the Périph are changing. Old money has long clustered in the western inner suburbs, eschewed the east, and preferred to drive. But today a new generation is colonizing the east and making different mobility choices while they're at it.
Earlier this week, I got a taste of what that looks like. Olivier Raoux and Amaury De Benoist of Alios Développement were kind enough to invite me to tour two of their projects, one of which is on the other side of the Périph and called Les Grandes-Serres de Pantin. So I got up early, pretended I was going to work like everyone else, and jumped on the metro in the 10ème. Within 15 minutes I was at Église de Pantin station. And a few minutes after that, I was crossing the Ourcq Canal.
The first thing I noticed was the people. It was just after 8am and it was busy. Everyone, including young children, seemed to be biking to work or school. I had been expecting to find a neighbourhood that was on its way to becoming something, but instead I found a neighbourhood that had seemingly already arrived, and I was late. It was also further evidence that Paris is now unapologetically a biking city.
Once across, I learned that a new pedestrian bridge is also going to be built leading directly from the metro station to the site, making the short commute from transit even shorter. Here is the mockup:
This pedestrian bridge will connect to a new public plaza at the entrance to the project's anchor building. A former spring factory from the late 19th century, it will soon serve as the focal point for a new mixed-use office park. Its program will include a food market, daily retail services, schools, a large auditorium, DJ events, and the project's first office tenants, among other things. It's a major forward investment, but one that will provide many of the amenities for the larger development — and clearly establish a place in Pantin.
As a quick aside, during our site walk, the gentleman below asked me if I would take his photo. He then asked where the photo would be used (I told him it would be on this world-renowned blog), and he took note of the URL. But unfortunately, I didn't get his name. So if you're reading this monsieur, please get in touch with your details at hello@globizen.com and I'll update this post with a credit to you.
In addition to the main hall, the project's first ground-up office building is also under construction.
The structure is a combination of cast-in-place concrete (which, by the way, was of truly impressive quality) and mass timber floor slabs. By code, the mass timber slabs must be encapsulated, which is also the case in Canada above certain heights. But that has not stopped the top floor of the building from looking like this:
I spent a morning with Olivier and Amaury, and I can say Alios shares many of the same values that guide our work at Globizen. They invest in architecture and design, they focus on quality of place, and they work diligently to build their city in ways that other developers may be overlooking. It was impressive to see. Thank you both, once again, for being so generous with your time and for inviting me to tour your projects.
I'll also add that I left the meeting feeling genuinely excited about the future of Paris. Or should I say, new Paris. Step outside the Périphérique and you’ll find neighbourhoods humming with energy, creativity, and new ideas.
We are staying in an aparthotel in Paris. We decided on this type of accommodation for a few reasons. One, we wanted a kitchen so that we could prepare meals. Two, we wanted to be able to do laundry, given that this is the last leg of our trip and we almost exclusively travel with carry-ons. And three, we wanted a workspace area.
The options for these criteria are generally aparthotels, serviced apartments, and Airbnb rentals. But we struggled to find a suitable Airbnb that was reasonably priced and didn't feel lived in. So we ended up booking a place from Edgar Suites, which has a really nice portfolio of properties across Paris and other cities in France.
My view is that we will see more of these kinds of properties as cities systematically work to restrict — and sometimes ban — Airbnb. And so a fourth reason I wanted to stay here was to do some market research.
Here's what I can tell you about our stay.
The check-in process was entirely digital. The night before check-in, I received an email with a code for the building, a one-time code for our apartment (for initial validation), and a go-forward code once our check-in had been validated. Everything worked seamlessly.
There weren't many pictures of our exact suite online, so, to be honest, we weren't 100% sure what we were getting. But we knew it was going to be compact. In Paris real-estate speak, it's a two-piece apartment. That means there are two rooms: a living/kitchen area and a bedroom. The bedroom is a generous 3m x 3.5m. And the street-facing window has a nice ledge that can be used for doing one's makeup or as a place for brazen pigeons to land.
The bathroom is a good size (about 1.5m x 2m), and there's also a separate water closet (toilet room). These are extremely common throughout Europe no matter how small the apartment might be. In Canada, these are far less common and only really appear in the top-end of the market. I certainly think they're a nice feature, but I personally wouldn't sacrifice in other areas of a small space just to have it.
The kitchen is more of a kitchenette. Its linear dimension is just under 1 meter (or 3'3"). We've made some fairly elaborate meals in this kitchen, but it certainly requires some jockeying around. It's nice not having to eat every meal out, especially if you're also trying to work.
Opposite the kitchen is banquette seating and a table for everything. It's the dining table, the work table, and the kitchen prep table. It also folds up against the wall if you'd like to have exactly one incremental person come over and sit in this room. Outside of the kitchen/living area is the building's courtyard (see here for plans of the building).
For those of you who also like to nerd out about dimensions, it's about 5.8m in its longest direction, which means that's the separation distance between our kitchen and our neighbor's bed. So even though this is a small space, it is a dual-aspect apartment. The toilet room also has a window opening up onto this courtyard space.
Finally, the laundry facilities are located in the basement of the building. There are two washing machines and one dryer. We've done multiple loads and they've been great. There's also a small gym on the main floor, which I would add to the list of highly desirable amenities for an aparthotel, or any hotel for that matter.
Overall, we've been very happy with our stay. My only comments would be that a larger living space would be needed for longer stays, there's a surprising lack of conveniently placed outlets in the apartment (one of my part-time jobs is charging devices), and better bathroom products would be a nice upgrade. My wife has taught me that desirable bathroom products, including body lotion, are a huge value-add in hospitality.
If any of you have stayed in a great aparthotel or serviced apartment, please share a link in the comments section below. I am betting that they will only become more common for longer stays, family travel, remote work, and people who are less tethered to one place.
When most people think of Paris, they only think of Paris proper, meaning the 20 neighbourhoods that exist within the confines of the Boulevard Périphérique. But as we talked about yesterday, that is quickly changing as a result of new investments in transit, a more porous border (le Périph), and progressive new developments. Greater Paris is transforming itself into a larger and more cohesive urban region, and it is creating what is, in effect, a new Paris.
Because of this, the preconceived notions that many Parisians hold about the areas outside of the Périph are changing. Old money has long clustered in the western inner suburbs, eschewed the east, and preferred to drive. But today a new generation is colonizing the east and making different mobility choices while they're at it.
Earlier this week, I got a taste of what that looks like. Olivier Raoux and Amaury De Benoist of Alios Développement were kind enough to invite me to tour two of their projects, one of which is on the other side of the Périph and called Les Grandes-Serres de Pantin. So I got up early, pretended I was going to work like everyone else, and jumped on the metro in the 10ème. Within 15 minutes I was at Église de Pantin station. And a few minutes after that, I was crossing the Ourcq Canal.
The first thing I noticed was the people. It was just after 8am and it was busy. Everyone, including young children, seemed to be biking to work or school. I had been expecting to find a neighbourhood that was on its way to becoming something, but instead I found a neighbourhood that had seemingly already arrived, and I was late. It was also further evidence that Paris is now unapologetically a biking city.
Once across, I learned that a new pedestrian bridge is also going to be built leading directly from the metro station to the site, making the short commute from transit even shorter. Here is the mockup:
This pedestrian bridge will connect to a new public plaza at the entrance to the project's anchor building. A former spring factory from the late 19th century, it will soon serve as the focal point for a new mixed-use office park. Its program will include a food market, daily retail services, schools, a large auditorium, DJ events, and the project's first office tenants, among other things. It's a major forward investment, but one that will provide many of the amenities for the larger development — and clearly establish a place in Pantin.
As a quick aside, during our site walk, the gentleman below asked me if I would take his photo. He then asked where the photo would be used (I told him it would be on this world-renowned blog), and he took note of the URL. But unfortunately, I didn't get his name. So if you're reading this monsieur, please get in touch with your details at hello@globizen.com and I'll update this post with a credit to you.
In addition to the main hall, the project's first ground-up office building is also under construction.
The structure is a combination of cast-in-place concrete (which, by the way, was of truly impressive quality) and mass timber floor slabs. By code, the mass timber slabs must be encapsulated, which is also the case in Canada above certain heights. But that has not stopped the top floor of the building from looking like this:
I spent a morning with Olivier and Amaury, and I can say Alios shares many of the same values that guide our work at Globizen. They invest in architecture and design, they focus on quality of place, and they work diligently to build their city in ways that other developers may be overlooking. It was impressive to see. Thank you both, once again, for being so generous with your time and for inviting me to tour your projects.
I'll also add that I left the meeting feeling genuinely excited about the future of Paris. Or should I say, new Paris. Step outside the Périphérique and you’ll find neighbourhoods humming with energy, creativity, and new ideas.
