• To "occupy and animate the public space, with shift", the town hall of Neuilly-sur-Seine plans to install Folies along the avenue Charles-de-Gaulle.

  • Nineteen pavilions of 30 to 35 square meters, with innovative architecture, will be built along the 5.8 kilometers of the avenue which connects Porte Maillot to La Défense.

  • The winners of a call for projects, the architects Edouard François and Manuelle Gautrand, will be responsible for designing the pavilions.

To “make residents want to walk and come to the city center again”, the town hall of Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine) will punctuate the large avenue Charles-de-Gaulle de Folies.

Nineteen pavilions of 30 to 35 square meters, with innovative architecture, will be built along the 5.8 kilometers of the avenue which connects Porte Maillot to La Défense.

After reviewing some fifty applications, the town hall selected two winners of its call for projects.

She unveiled this Tuesday the selected projects, those of the architects Edouard François and Manuelle Gautrand, who will be responsible for the design of the Folies.

Accompanied by a vast operation of revegetation, the project aims "to occupy and animate the public space, with shift", according to the mayor (DVD) of the city, Jean-Christophe Fromantin.

The pavilions will be made from recycled materials, and open to the insertion of technologies.

Conceptualized in 2010, this project is part of a desire to create a continuum between the Arc de Triomphe and La Défense, by breaking "the borders of the Porte Maillot, the Pont de Neuilly and the Place de l'Etoile", explains the mayor.

A development project that costs 58 million euros to the town hall of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

"Restore attractiveness to the avenue"

Faced with the proliferation of “dark stores”, the mayor intends “to offer with these Folies what the actors cannot offer online, experiences”.

An initiative intended in particular for “historic companies on Avenue Charles-de-Gaulle, who would like to seize the opportunity, companies in the luxury sector, or even museums”, according to Jean-Christophe Fromantin.

The players will have to count on an investment of between 600,000 and 800,000 euros for an authorization for temporary occupation (AOT) of a pavilion for fifteen years, to which is added a fee paid to the town hall for the maintenance of the ten hectares of the avenue .

From this Tuesday, the town hall of the city meets the actors interested in investing in these Folies.

“We will choose the tenants according to the intensity and the diversity of the experiences they offer, assures the mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Our objective is to restore the attractiveness of Avenue Charles-de-Gaulle.

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Raw earth follies

Printed using 3D printers, the structures proposed by the architect Edouard François will consist of raw earth reinforcements.

“3D printing makes it possible to reduce the point of impact of the structure at ground level, and to make it almost zero,” explains the architect.

Edouard François wants his project to mark the beginning of earthen construction, a challenge for sustainable construction for years to come.


He chose a "surprisingly simple" shape for his project, and proposes to use plays of light, material effects, and the modular shape of the interior vault to decline his model on different Folies.

“It's about creating a bespoke Madness for each brand,” he adds.

The Folies we do will all be different.

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Solid glass follies

Like her colleague, the architect Manuelle Gautrand suggests starting from recycled materials for the design of her Folies.

Avenue Charles-de-Gaulle is close to many buildings with glass facades, notably in La Défense.

The architect intends to "recycle the glass of the glazed facades, in a DIY spirit, and transform it so that the material is even more beautiful once recycled".


The differences in colors, polishing, and the number of layers of glass give an "infinity of possibilities" to adapt Folies to different brands.

“As in a Lego game, we will play at assembling glass bricks,” laughs the architect.

Wooden mashrabiyas, more or less opaque, will form the structure of these pavilions.

Their color will tend towards green, a color historically associated with the capital's street furniture.

A way for the architect “to rework and modernize a collective imagination”.

Les Folies will be installed along the avenue by the end of 2024, or even the beginning of 2025.

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  • Neuilly-Sur-Seine

  • Paris

  • Ile-de-France

  • Architecture

  • Innovation

  • Jean-christophe fromantin

  • Town planning