Before and After: The Chapel Door soon to be transformed?

In full transformation, this territory of north-east Paris has been trying to take care of its appearance for years. New housing, green spaces, university campus and Olympic hall... Discover the future district of the Porte de la Chapelle.

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Paul Abran, Pauline Darvey, Evann Hislers and Stanislas de Livonnière

Last update: 10/06/2023

Make the Chapelle district "the most beautiful entrance to the capital". The campaign promise of Anne Hidalgo, the mayor (PS) of Paris, was daring. Namely, to transform this territory of the eighteenth arrondissement surrounded by railways, gangrenous by drug trafficking and where "life is difficult", recognizes the City.

"Make it a central place"

François Leclercq, urban architect

The north of Paris is constantly evolving. "There has already been the conversion of the Macdonald warehouse to the east, the arrival of the Rosa-Parks station and the tramway," notes François Leclercq, an urban architect commissioned by the City in 2003 to transform northeastern Paris. From now on, "the huge challenge is to make the Chapel, no longer an end of Paris but a centrality".

An investment of 500 million euros

By the start of the Paris 2024 Games, two major projects must be completed in this sector: the Arena and the redevelopment of Rue de la Chapelle. Other large-scale projects are also planned in the coming years.

"This is the largest urban renewal operation"

Emmanuel Grégoire, First Deputy (PS) to the Mayor of Paris

In total, the City of Paris is investing more than 500 million euros to transform this district.

The Chapel Gate seen from the sky

Before

Credit: Google Earth

The Chapel Gate seen from the sky

Before

Credit: Google Earth

The Chapel Gate seen from the sky

Before

Credit: Google Earth

The Chapel Gate seen from the sky

After

Credit: Vectuel

The Chapel Gate seen from the sky

After

Credit: Vectuel

The Chapel Gate seen from the sky

After

Credit: Vectuel

The Chapel Gate seen from the sky

After

Credit: Vectuel

The Chapel Gate seen from the sky

After

Credit: Vectuel

Historically, the Chapelle district is marked by its many road and rail networks. "It presented a form of isolation with a very strong fragmentation," comments Patricia Pelloux, the deputy director of Apur (Parisian Workshop of Urbanism).

This neighborhood is characterized by these groups of buildings heavily guarded by the police services. This is particularly the cause of drug trafficking.

The two skyscrapers "are a good example in the neighborhood" in terms of social diversity, notes Emmanuel Grégoire. One is social housing, the other is a private condominium.

Here is the perspective of the project as it was sketched in 2022 by Vectuel, specialist in 3D models of cities.

A new Arena, in the background, built for the Paris Games.

A completely transformed main artery.

Brand new housing and office districts (International Chapel and Coal Chapel).

The project also includes the construction of new housing units that will accommodate families, students and young workers. On the ground floor, utilities will be installed.

"The Champs-Élysées of the Porte de la Chapelle"

These are the words used by the mayor of Paris when she presents the rue de la Chapelle, this north-south axis that crosses the district of the ring road to Marx-Dormoy, once renovated. A "segment today hard, because it is there that there is sedentarization and a very great precariousness," notes Emmanuel Grégoire, his first deputy (PS).

"A hotbed of drug trafficking"

Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy (PS) to the mayor of Paris.

The municipality undertook a "huge project" of redevelopment. The work will be completed before the 2024 Paris Games.

Rue de la Chapelle

Before

Credit: Google Street View

Rue de la Chapelle

After

Credit: Vectuel

Rue de la Chapelle

After

Credit: Luxigon for the City of Paris

Rue de la Chapelle

After

Credit: Luxigon for the City of Paris

Rue de la Chapelle

After

Credit: Luxigon for the City of Paris

"Since the Romans, the Chapel has always been a place of entry into Paris," says the architect. Except that over the years, the problems have accumulated.

Traffic jams, the presence of wandering people, homeless, drug users and sellers. "This segment is the beginning of all our problems in the sector," says Emmanuel Grégoire.

First objective: to promote soft mobility. The road carriageway will be reduced to one lane in each direction, accompanied each time by another lane dedicated to buses.

A 4 m "XXL" cycle path will be built. New walks will each extend over 23m wide, "almost as much as the Champs-Élysées (26m)", insists the City.

A more vegetated street: a third row of trees will be planted on the sidewalk extension.

It is added to the two existing ones for a more "shaded" character of the street. It will thus be equipped with six rows of trees.

L’Arena, tout un symbole

À près d’un an des Jeux olympiques et paralympiques (JOP), les immenses grues qui triomphaient au-dessus du boulevard périphérique ont quitté le chantier de l’Arena. 

La future salle aux 8 000 places assises et 9 000 debout, qui portera le nom de la marque allemande Adidas, sera finalement prête pour une ouverture en février 2024, après une livraison initialement prévue pour l’automne 2023.

« La grande mutation de ce quartier se fait par des programmations nationales exceptionnelles, comme l’Arena »

François Leclercq, architecte urbaniste

Située à l’entrée ouest de la ZAC Gare des Mines-Fillettes, elle aussi en plein réaménagement, l'Arena est la pierre angulaire, le symbole de cette métamorphose.

L'Arena

Avant

Crédit : Google Earth

L'Arena

Après

Crédit : SCAU N2PF, Ville de Paris

L'Arena

Après

Crédit : SCAU N2PF, Ville de Paris

L'Arena

Après

Crédit : SCAU N2PF, Ville de Paris

L'Arena

Après

Crédit : SCAU N2PF, Ville de Paris

Un parking à étages occupait le site où a été construite l’Arena.

L’un des derniers bowlings de la capitale était installé au rez-de-chaussé de ce bâtiment en béton armé. L’immeuble entier a été détruit début 2020.

L’enceinte accueillera les épreuves de badminton, gymnastique rythmique, para-badminton et para-haltérophilie lors des Jeux de Paris 2024.

Elle sera livrée en retard, début 2024, à cause « du Covid, d’un enchevêtrement de travaux et de problèmes d’approvisionnement liés au conflit en Ukraine », confiait la Ville en décembre 2022.

L’Arena va devenir le nouvel antre du Paris Basketball. Des compétitions de MMA, d’e-sport, des concerts de rap (Zola, le 3 mai 2024) et de musique électronique y seront aussi organisés, soit une centaine d’événements par an.

Une offre commerciale et de restauration sera accessible au public 7/7j.

L’esplanade piétonne, devant l’Arena, sera nommée Alice-Milliat, en l’honneur de cette pionnière du sport féminin.

Avec deux gymnases flambant neuf, le complexe a aussi vocation à profiter aux associations sportives et aux écoles du quartier. « On souhaite participer positivement au changement de la vie des habitants », ambitionne Adidas.

« Réorganiser le plat de nouilles »

A partir des années 2000, les talus de l’échangeur de la Chapelle ont été investis par des centaines de consommateurs de crack et de dealers. « La colline du crack » a finalement été démantelée en 2019. Aujourd’hui, des toxicomanes sont toujours présents aux alentours de la porte de la Chapelle.

Crédit : LP/Jean-Nicholas Guillo

Le carrefour de la porte de la Chapelle est traversé par le tramway. Les automobilistes se croisent entre le périphérique, l’échangeur autoroutier et la rue vers Paris. La municipalité envisage aussi de « réorganiser le plat de nouilles ».

Crossroads of the Porte de la Chapelle

Before

Credit: Google Earth

Crossroads of the Porte de la Chapelle

After

Credit: Vectuel

A reduction in the number of lanes is envisaged by the mayor of Paris. "The prefecture of police recommends the development of 4 incoming and 3 outgoing lanes," say the authorities.

"Thanks to the Olympics, in any case, a lane has been removed, and the scenario suits the prefecture," confirms Emmanuel Grégoire.

3,500 students expected on the Condorcet campus

Right in front of the Arena, other cranes began to activate. Objective: to build a campus of 20,000 m2. By the start of the 2025 academic year, 3,500 students are expected on the site of the former Dubois station.

Credit: TimeLapse Go, Campus Condorcet

Between 2016 and 2018, the City of Paris installed a "bubble" on this railway wasteland to deal with the migration crisis. 60,000 migrants passed through this inflatable tent.

Credit: LP/Julien Duffé

The first stone of this project will be laid this Friday, June 16. The University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne plans to host all humanities and social sciences courses at bachelor and master level.

Credit: Thomas Sériès - Labtop Rendering USA Corp

In addition to classrooms, a university library, a student restaurant, a "living space" and a "landscaped garden open to the city" should also be built.

90% of occupied housing in Chapelle International

New buildings have just grown on a former railway wasteland of 7 hectares. Welcome to Chapelle International, a brand new district planted between Rue de la Chapelle, the railway tracks of the Gare du Nord and the marshals.

Credit: LP/Paul Abran

6,000 residents and employees are to invest in this complex of offices, housing and shops, inaugurated in November 2022. Today 90% of apartments - 45% of which are social housing - are already inhabited, according to the City of Paris.

Credit: LP/Paul Abran

A large proportion of offices are still vacant. "It does not arouse a craze for the moment, admits Emmanuel Grégoire. When there is the Arena, there will be no problem. »

Credit: LP/Jean-Baptiste Quentin

A school, a nursery, sports facilities, urban agriculture... have also been established in this new neighbourhood.

Credit: LP/Jean-Baptiste Quentin

A large park in the heart of the district

Another district is being transformed: that of Chapelle Charbon. It is located just across Rue de la Chapelle. A new green lung has been at the heart of this ensemble.

Coal Chapel

The new Parc de la Chapelle is hidden in the heart of apartment buildings.

Credit: Google Earth

Coal Chapel

The new Parc de la Chapelle is hidden in the heart of apartment buildings.

Credit: Vectuel

Coal Chapel

The new Parc de la Chapelle is hidden in the heart of apartment buildings.

Credit: Sergio Grazia / Paris & Métropole Management

Coal Chapel

The new Parc de la Chapelle is hidden in the heart of apartment buildings.

Credit: Sergio Grazia / Paris & Métropole Management

This district is located on a railway wasteland of 9 hectares. The buildings bordering the new park will be renovated.

A first phase was completed in 2020 with the opening of a 3-hectare park. New buildings will also be built on the edge with housing, a school, shops...

The architectural project is still under study. The volume of buildings constructed is expected to be smaller than projected. And greening take up more space.

In 2025, an additional 1.5 ha of park will be opened. Eventually, the park will extend over 6 ha. The City also has the ambition to extend it by carrying out a green corridor to the Porte de la Villette (nineteenth).

"The park is very nice," says Emmanuel Grégoire. It is a miracle, it does not suffer from the pitfalls of the axis: no homeless, wandering migrants. He is beautiful and lives well. »

Will these many developments underway in the Porte de la Chapelle area bring a new, more pleasant living environment to the premises? In the neighborhood, residents and shopkeepers remain skeptical. Everyone we met described a "difficult daily life". "Maybe there will be a big clean-up before the Olympics," whispers a local resident. But what happens next? The question remains open.