CNIT Eole

Remodeling connection CNIT & Eole station, Paris la Défense (FR)

The new Paris–La Défense rapid transit station (Éole line) under the CNIT has been open in May 2024. 

Careful consideration was required to determine how best to connect an underground station in the basement of this iconic building without transforming it into a sort of elevated station. Cro&Co’s strategy consisted in approaching the CNIT with great tenderness and preserving this symbol in its initial function as a destination for shopping and leisure, while reaffirming its role as gateway into the business district, from Paris and the whole of Europe. Because a destination has to be reached. Fufilling the potential of the business district and giving it a new image involved the improved orchestration of user movement and greater accessibility from the main interconnections in Paris. 

The 2030 arrival of the Grand Paris Express is heralded like the Messiah, but so is the future station for the Éole line, which will place La Défense at only a 5-minute journey from the Gare Saint Lazare station in Paris, and 15 minutes from Gare de l’Est and Gard du Nord.This new RER rapid transit station is part of the vision outlined by Cro&Co for the CNIT’s third reincarnation, to which it gives added force and legitimacy. A new circulation point for workers, distributing in the morning and absorbing in the evening, this new Éole station forms the link between the underground and overground of La Défense. The challenge is to integrate this major metropolitan interchange into the CNIT without transforming it into just a station, or allowing people flow and related signage to take over. The abutments that until now have been completely disregarded, are now refurbished as new station exits and enhance the vault, visible over several levels. 

Cro&Co’s close relationship with the CNIT doesn’t end there, as the practice has recently been commissioned to renovate the CNIT and the Place Malraux. With the objective of redefining the office floors and communal spaces, and significantly improving the perception of light, Cro&Co has pursued studies to propose new arrangements and services, modifications to the facade, and the addition of widespread planting.