by Sven Bossu, CEO, AIPC
Venue design has undergone massive changes over the last few decades. Event facilities are no longer big blocks of concrete appearing in cities like white elephants, with no connection to the local communities. Architects now need to take into account the need for flexibility, sustainability, visitor wellness, aesthetics, and so much more. Inspiration to make this a reality can sometimes come from surprising places.
Visiting Paris
Visiting Paris is always a pleasure. It is one of my favorite cities for many reasons, including its architecture. With the 2024 Olympic Games approaching, it seems that both private owners and local authorities are doing their utmost to make the City of Lights shine even brighter, with roadworks and ongoing restoration throughout the city. But this particular visit had a different purpose than admiring the city views – I was invited to visit a venue whose restoration is inspired by the work of a comic book artist, François Schuiten. Mr. Schuiten, a Belgian citizen but semi-adopted by the French, is most known for drawing the series Les Cités Obscures, or Obscure Cities. So I was a bit puzzled to see how that would work in a venue.
CNIT Forest
The CNIT Forest, as the venue is called, will open in September and is located within the business district of Paris, La Défense. It is part of an eclectic set of 12 venues managed by VIParis. What makes this restoration special is the underlying mindset. The designers – including Mr. Schuiten – wanted to “keep in mind the spirit of audacity, inventiveness, creativity, and also the desire for nature and the ambition to connect to the most advanced technologies”.
The result indeed is the feeling of entering an underground forest, composed of digital trees complemented with natural light. The materials used aim to create a sense of calm, and the overall flow is very intuitive. The contrast with the “buzz” in the business district outside could not be bigger – it simply feels like you’re entering a special place.
Overall Trend
This is something that has become an overall trend when it comes to venue design: the ability to offer visitors a unique experience through event design and technology, while at the same time offering maximum flexibility and cost-efficiency. Great examples are the new BMO Centre in Calgary, ICC Sydney, or the Swiss Tech Convention Centre in Lausanne. All of these venues took the customer experience as the starting point when developing their plans and indeed offer something unique, impossible to find in another venue. The Swiss Tech Convention Center, for example, profiles itself as a knowledge and technology hub located in the heart of a university campus and equipped with state-of-the-art technology wrapped in stunning design.
Member Engagement
Given the struggle that associations have to attract their members to their events – both as a criterion for member engagement and as a way to generate non-dues revenues – being able to offer such unique experiences will become more important. It also means that organizers are thinking more and more “out of the box” when it comes to selecting a destination and/or an event venue, and the options are definitely there. Just looking at the city where our offices are located – Brussels – you can rent anything from a heritage building to a former Airbus A320 recycled as an event hall. This also allows for closely aligning the purpose of the meeting with the location where it will take place and makes it easier to have consistency when it comes to messaging and branding. A summit on sustainable events obviously would take place in a venue that is truly sustainable, and a conference on public transport could take place in a former railway station, etc.
This is another reason why the renovation of the CNIT Forest – the building has been in existence since 1958, by the way – is so interesting, as it demonstrates the trend of existing venues reinventing themselves, from empty concrete shells into experience centers.
This is also one of the topics we will touch upon during the AIPC Annual Conference, taking place in Luxembourg at the European Conference Center Luxembourg, with three architects/designers sharing their views on the future of event venues and their integration into the local communities. We still have a couple of seats left…
Sven Bossu, CEO, AIPC
Read it in our Quarter 3 Issue HERE .
