GPE - Grand Paris Express

Grand Paris Express

- Société du Grand Paris -

Designing urban furniture for the largest transport project in Europe.

About

With 68 new train stations and 220km of new metro lines, the Grand Paris Express is expected to serve 2 million passengers a day. Patrick Jouin's consultancy was designated to design all the urban furniture that would populate the stations of this new network.

Despite each and every station having its own architectural approach and identity, the furniture has to stay a constant, blending in and showing the unity in the new transport network. All the objects and products have an impact on the space, and have been conceived as clean, smooth and ergonomically as possible. Being part of the team that worked on this massive project, I worked on the design of the products, but also on the technical development part, making sure that the design intent was feasible and respected along the way.

Details

Junior Designer/Engineer at Patrick Jouin iD
2019-2020

Awards and Recognition

Weaving unity into public spaces

The design of the products, from signage panels and seatings, to reception areas and even bicycle shelters, conveys a personality and an identity. It must embody the network, foster a sense of community, and integrate seamlessly into the diverse architectures that make the Grand Paris Express project so rich. The design approach is fully centered on the experience of public space users—how they perceive their environment and how design can bring a sense of calm within the constant flow of movement. The ambition is to weave a unifying thread across the diverse station typologies of the Grand Paris Express, so that every user intuitively feels part of a greater whole, while each station retains its own unique character.

Designing at scale: complexity and collaboration

In total, more than 20 typologies of product had to be designed, each of them having variations or combination possibilities. The scale and scope of this project was truly colossal, with a timeline spread on almost two decades, many level of stakeholders and different suppliers for every product. Through various milestones, the design was successfully settled and a phase of close collaboration started with suppliers to manage technical aspects, and ensure the design intention would be retained after manufacturing.

A first step in a decade-long journey

The first station, Saint-Denis-Pleyel, officially opened in 2024, with all the designed products successfully implemented. Over the course of the next decade, additional stations will be unveiled, and this furniture will accompany millions of travelers on their daily journeys within a unified transport network.