Notre Dame’s New Design Plan Includes A Cathedral, A New Park And An Underground Walkway

The project is being led by Belgian landscape architect, Bas Smets, along with a team of urban planning agency GRAU and architecture agency Neufville-Gayet

Updated on: 8 July 2022 12:49 pm

Notre Dame aims to be greener and more welcoming

Notre Dame, one of the most profound and enthralling UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is all set with a new plan and various other new changes. At present, the construction team is round the clock to meet the 2024 deadline set by French President Emmanuel Macron. The new design plan of Notre Dam will feature a cathedral, a new park, an underground walkway and a pathway of trees.

The project is being led by Belgian landscape architect, Bas Smets, along with a team of urban planning agency GRAU and architecture agency Neufville-Gayet. The total cost of the project is 52 million euros. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2027. Notre Dame aims to be greener and more welcoming.

According to reports, Smets said,” There were three essential points for us: it was to reveal the cathedral, second to improve the connection with the Seine, and thirdly, to multiply the uses through this climatic approach.”

Along with this, a 400-meter-long park will be visible along the Seine. Smets, in an interview, said,” People will be able to come and picnic [and] play in this magnificent place, between the south facade of the cathedral and the Seine. Behind the cathedral, we will make a very large lawn of 17,000 square meters (4,2 acres), as large as the large lawn behind the Luxembourg Gardens.”

The new plan also includes 131 new trees surrounding the cathedral. It will include hackberries, maple, hornbeams, alders and some oak. This is done to pay homage to the cathedral’s oak-made frame that burned in the 2019 fire.

Le Passage will be turned into a reception centre above the underground parking garage of cathedral square. The reception area will be able to accommodate nearly 1,000 people and also have luggage storage and meeting rooms. They will also have access to the cathedral’s archaeological crypt.

With all these changes, direct access to the Seine will also be constructed.

In April 2019, a fire broke out and destroyed the construction of Notre Dame. After reworking and reconstruction, the damage was finally repaired and parts were opened to the public.