UNIVERSEINE, into the Olympic village -sAINT dENIS

Located at the heart of the Olympic and Paralympic Village development zone, the Universeine programme accommodated nearly 6,000 beds and approximately 33,000 m² of service and workspaces during the 2024 Games. After the event, the complex is converted into a mixed residential development including social housing, student housing, local facilities, a childcare centre and shops.

Wagon is responsible for the landscape design of the courtyards and rooftops. The landscape is conceived as an ecological infrastructure capable of responding to contemporary climate challenges: strengthening biodiversity and improving everyday comfort in an urban context increasingly exposed to heat stress. The inner courtyards are organised around a clear principle: a large central garden around which circulation and uses are arranged. The heart of each courtyard functions as a rain garden, designed to absorb stormwater. Careful grading creates permanently moist areas at the lower points of the garden, fostering rich biodiversity.

The landscape composition relies on a palette of complex vegetal structures inspired by natural environments: woodland edges, groves, thickets, meadows and rock gardens. More than one hundred plant species are used to create a living landscape throughout the year, with particular attention paid to plant provenance, the use of local nurseries and the selection of species that serve as hosts for insects and birds.

Specific devices support this ecological ambition, including nesting boxes, berry-producing plants and dense vegetation zones. This approach requires a shift in maintenance practices towards a more adaptive and attentive form of management. A detailed maintenance manual and support for site management teams have been developed to ensure the continuity of ecological dynamics over time.

This environmental strategy is inseparable from the site’s goal of hospitality: offering outdoor spaces that are welcoming, cool and vibrant—first for athletes, and later for the residents of Saint-Denis.

Vinci - Real Estate, Architects: Clément Vergély Architectes (coordinator), Béal & Blanckaert, Pascal Gontier, Lina Gohtmeh, Gaëtan Le Penhuel, BET Incet