The Grand Paris Express

Société du Grand Paris

Furniture design and passenger information supports

The requirements defined in the specifications for the Grand Paris Express reflect the scale of the infrastructure project: an expanding metro network of 220 km, doubling the length of the existing network, and the creation of more than sixty new stations. These stations will be operational between 2024 and 2030, bringing the Grand Paris Express into a new era with four new metro lines: lines 15, 16, 17 and 18. This colossal project symbolizes the transition from a model of radial lines, linking the heart of the capital to the Paris region, to a metropolitan network extending beyond the ring road. This connects the different towns and districts of Greater Paris, encouraging a multi-centric development of the metropolis, making decentralized traffic possible.

L'atelier Intégral Designers and Patrick Jouin were asked to lead these cross-disciplinary design missions. They were able to integrate their expertise into the sixty architectural projects for the various stations of the Grand Paris Express. This fruitful collaboration with the project owner, Société du Grand Paris, was based on clearly defined common objectives, resulting in a highly relevant project.

Entrusted with the design of equipment, furniture and information media for the stations in the Grand Paris public transport network, Patrick Jouin ID's aim was to create a common language for all the stations in terms of furniture, while leaving each one its individuality. The design of the objects, from the signpost to the reception area to the bicycle shelter, asserts a personality, an identity. It must be able to express the network, instill a sense of community, and thus fit into the multiple architectures that make up the richness of the Grand Paris Express project.

As such, the work methodology is entirely focused on the users of public space, their perception of the environment and the soothing of their senses within an ecosystem of continuous flow. The aim is to create a common thread between the different station types, so that users understand that they are part of a whole, just like each of the Grand Paris Express stations.