The ‘versatile monument’ question: Parc de la Villette as managed reality

Abstract

This essay examines Parc de la Villette through what will be defined as the ‘versatile monument’ question, in order to discuss a non-linear, dynamic relationship between the processes of project commission, design and implementation, and site management. The first part elaborates on what is at stake in the ‘versatile monument’ and how this problematic was clearly embodied in the Parc de La Villette competition brief. The second and third segments describe how the park is used today, through observations about its various spaces and buildings, and explain the managerial mechanisms that invisibly steer this daily public theatre. The two descriptions are then brought back to the question of how one could achieve, or sustain, versatility and durability in La Villette. The proposed perspective is to bring design and management into a learning feedback loop as it is occurring, even if only nominally, in a very different district of Paris that is worth comparing here: the business hub of La Défense.