Interview with Dominique Perrault, architect

You are currently working on a huge multimodal transport hub in Seoul. How will this revitalise the Gangnam business district ?

Dominique Perrault - It's a new type of urban complex, one that's popping up in a few places around the world, and which reactivates the downtowns of major metropolises by irrigating the entire district, day and night. To give you an idea of the dimensions of this hub, its length is half of the Champs-ÉlyséesWith Les Halles and Montparnasse station below. As the whole complex is built under the roadway, the latter is transformed. Green spaces appear on the surface, and urban life is created. Because a major interconnection hub like the one we're working on is linked to new public spaces that can host popular events - music concerts, for example - restaurants and shops, and cultural spaces. For example, the creation of an exhibition space the size of the Grand Palais in Paris is part of the project.

Is the end of single-function business districts?

D. P. - Fifty years ago, we were responding to a need, that of transforming cities into metropolises. other configurationThe population has increased significantly. As a result, urban strategies are more concerned with accommodating the population than with developing infrastructure. The idea is to create density without having to build above ground. We are working to reactivate the epidermis of our cities to create roots in the buildings, which link to each other and create a whole underground network.

Does this way of extending the city fit in with eco-responsibility issues?

D. P. - In the future, we will have to use all our resources. Given that our planet is a finite world, we will have to a lot of imagination. If you have to go up, you go up; if you have to go down, you go down, so that you don't have to create new urban structures. On the contrary, we need to work with human settlements that already have a history and a geography.