La Villette (park)

 La Villette (park)

The Parc de la Villette is the third-largest park in Paris, with 55.5 hectares (137 acres) and located in the 19th arrondissement on the city's northeastern outskirts. The park is home to one of Paris's most dense concentrations of cultural facilities, including the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (Europe's biggest scientific museum), three major music halls, and the famed Conservatoire de Paris. The Paris Métro stations Corentin Cariou on Line 7 and Porte de Pantin on Line 5 serve Parc de la Villette.

Bernard Tschumi, a French architect of Swiss ancestry, created the park, which was erected from 1984 to 1987 as part of an urban regeneration project on the site of the massive Parisian abattoirs (slaughterhouses) and the national wholesale meat market. The slaughterhouses, erected under Napoleon III's orders in 1867, were demolished and moved in 1974. Tschumi won a major design competition for the park in 1982-83, and he solicited the advice of deconstructionist philosopher Jacques Derrida in the drafting of his design concept.

Several notable modern architects, including Christian de Portzamparc, Adrien Fainsilber, Philippe Chaix, Jean-Paul Morel, and Gérard Arnault, have created museums, music halls, and theatres since the park's inception. The park has museums, concert halls, live performance stages, and theatres, as well as children's playgrounds and thirty-five architectural follies. These are some examples:

Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (City of Science and Industry), Europe's largest science museum; also home to Vill'Up, a shopping centre that opened in November 2016 with the world's largest indoor pulsed air free fall flight simulator standing 14 metres high[1] and several cinemas (IMAX, 4DX, and dynamic);

La Géode, an IMAX theatre housed within a geodesic dome 36 metres (118 feet) in diameter;

The Cité de la musique (City of Music) is a museum of ancient musical instruments with a concert hall that also serves as the home of the Conservatoire de Paris.

The Philharmonie de Paris, a new symphony hall with 2,400 seats for symphonic performances, has opened in Paris.

The Philharmonie de Paris, a new symphony hall built by Jean Nouvel with 2,400 seats for symphonic works, jazz, and world music, has been open since January 2015.

The Grande halle de la Villette is a historic cast iron and glass slaughterhouse that currently hosts fairs, joyful cultural events, and other programmes.

The Grande halle de la Villette, which hosts fairs and cultural events, and the Théâtre Paris-Villette are located on the left side of the footbridge that leads to the Philharmonie de Paris symphony hall.

Le Zénith, a rock and pop music performance stadium with 6,300 seats; L'Argonaute, a 50-meter-long former military submarine; Cabaret Sauvage, a flexible compact concert stage with 600 to 1,200 seats built by Méziane Azache in 1997;

Le Trabendo is a modern venue for pop, rock, folk, and jazz music.