Lyon-Part-Dieu Business District


La Part-Dieu is the Central Business District and beating heart of Lyon Metropolis, inside an urban area of more than 2.2 million inhabitants. It is also the second largest tertiary district in France, after La Défense in Greater Paris, with over 1,150,000 m² of office and service space, along with 45,000 service sector jobs, 2,500 companies, affordable rents and a 97% occupancy rate. A major European nerve centre, La Part-Dieu high-speed train station is a leading interchange rail station on the continent, welcoming 120,000 travellers everyday, while its multimodal hub deals with 500,000 daily commuters, by means of public transport such as métro, tram and bus lines, taxi and bike services, including the Rhônexpress shuttle connecting La Part-Dieu directly with Lyon-Saint-Exupéry International Airport.
Located on the Left Bank of the Rhône river, this urban centre also provides major entertainment and cultural facilities, including one of the largest urban shopping mall of all Europe, 800 shops, Paul Bocuse indoor food market, café terraces, the Auditorium concert hall, Bourse du Travail theatre, Municipal Library, Departmental Archives and Montluc Fort. Moreover, it harbours Tour Incity, Tour Part-Dieu and Tour Oxygène, making Lyon one of the few European cities able to display high-rise architecture right next to its historical core.
The CBD is currently undergoing major renovation and construction works, according to a revitalization projet totalling €2.5 billion between public and private investments.

Governance

The current 3rd arrondissement Mayor is environmentalist Véronique Bertrand-Dubois. She works for Lyon Metropolis' permanent commission as an advisor on urban habitat, planning, housing and politics.
SPL Part-Dieu, or La Part-Dieu's publicly owned local development corporation, is used by local authorities as an operational tool. It was created back in 2014 and is governed by a board of administrators, chaired by David Kimelfed, head of Lyon Metropolis. 20 people work on urban, economic, human and resources related problems. They manage, control, promote and coordinate the La Part-Dieu project.
Lyon Metropolis is headquartered in La Part-Dieu district, in a brutalist building from the 1970s, on Garibaldi street. It concentrates hundreds of civil workers and local figures hold regular meetings there. Other authority figures include Police Headquarters inside Montluc Fort since 2007 and Sytral Headquarters.

Urbanity

Urban and green space

A district of 21,000 inhabitants, La Part-Dieu has developed on both sides of the railway and is mostly made up of high-rise and low-rise architecture. According to La Part-Dieu SPL area, this 3rd arrondissement district is roughly limited by Garibaldi street to the West, Juliette Récamier to the North, Maurice Flandin to the East and the former La Buire automotive plants to the South. The original project was based on La Défense urban planning model.
La Rize river used to run through Part-Dieu but was buried in a sewage system. Nowadays, urban planners aim at preventing urban heat island effects thanks to green spaces. For example, Garibaldi street, once a main urban highway, has been revamped as a part of a green path going from Tête d’Or Park to Sergent Blandan and Gerland Park. La Part-Dieu also offers several plazas, several gardens and a park, on top of the centenary plane trees from the former cavalry barracks.

Urban services

Etymology

Various theories try to explain the origins of the "Part-Dieu" name. It could either come from the tenacity with which several landlords managed to save pieces of land from Rhône waters or how Guillaume de Fuer named his parcel "Pardeu" by the end of the 12th century. A last theory states that Marc-Antoine Mazenod gave his 140 hectares land to Hôtel-Dieu Public Hospitals after his daughter was saved miraculously and named it "Gift from God".

Farmlands

Before the 1850s, La Part-Dieu was composed of rural flood-zones. It was ceded by the Mazenod-Servient family to the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon Public Hospitals in 1737. The embankment of the Rhône river and construction of bridges led to the management of flood risk and urbanization of the eastern Rhone bank from 1772 onwards. By the end of the 18th century, La Part-Dieu domain was a large estate bordered by the Brotteaux and Guillotière districts.
Lafayette bridge erected in 1872 accelerated the eastward urbanization process, while cleansed farmlands gave way to wheat production. From 1830 to 1848, the city erected walls to protect itself from foreign invasions. Montluc Fort saw life in 1831. La Part-Dieu, thus becoming a fort, acquired a military function. Because of the administrative, urban and geological complexity of Lyon, rail transport brought multiple train stations to existence. The Part-Dieu one was solely dedicated to freight transport.

Cavalry barracks

In 1844, Public Hospitals sold their land to the military administration, which built cavalry barracks from 1851 to 1863. However, the process of urbanization was limited by traverse axes and the fact that Lafayette street was the only road connecting La Part-Dieu with Central Lyon. The district was added to Lyon administrative area in 1852. In order to link the city with Geneva, Gare des Brotteaux was designed by the Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée company, which led to the dismantling of wall fortifications to make way for railway lines. Meanwhile, the military compound took on the orthogonal footprint of the original farm estate. Many cavalry units were mobilized during World War I.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Édouard Herriot was elected Mayor of Lyon, a dominating French city outside of Paris, thanks to its dynamic industrial and commercial output. Inspired by the French hygiéniste urbanist movement, similar to Haussmann's renovation of Paris, he undertook major works to improve urban and social space. The eastward urban expansion of rail and road networks turned La Part-Dieu marshalling yards into the centre of the metropolitan area. In 1926, a project based on American Downtowns emerged.

Post-war housing

Following World War II, France's top priorities were to rebuild the housing stock fast, to push for economic development and to favour efficient movements by car. Due to the evolution of warfare, the military compound lost its importance and became part of a massive housing estate project.
In 1960, the French State sold the lands to a private company, SERL, to bring the project to life. The subsequent demolition of existing structures took 5 years. The fact that large estates were owned by state administrations, allowed for a profound transformation right in the middle of the city.
The program evolved under the mandate of Mayor Pradel, not only by pushing for housing construction but also for encouraging the construction of an administrative centre and private office space to host public services, such as radio and police stations. The winning architectural project abided by the Athens Charter, a rigorous modernist urban planning philosophy developed by Le Corbusier.
It promoted the separation of human and car flow through the use of "above the street" concrete structures, in a La Défense fashion, allowing for car supremacy on the lower street level, while overhead orthogonal architecture standing on reinforced concrete stilts followed the Unité d'habitation principles. Consequently, several buildings were drawn by the hands of Jacques Perrin-Fayolle, Jean Sillan and Jean Zumbrunnen, nonetheless, only a third of the planned structures were constructed.

Directional center

While the Charles de Gaulle government pushed for the decentralization of France, car-centric urbanism from the Trente Glorieuses fuelled peripherical growth at the expense of city centres. As a result, a management plan was drafted by urbanist Charles Delfante and Jean Zumbrunnen, under the supervision of Mayor Louis Pradel. It included the development of commercial, tertiary and cultural activities, in order to compete with Paris and other international cities and to turn La Part-Dieu into a showcase of modernity. A central train station was planned but the SNCF refused to fund it, a move which hindered the purpose of the directional center.
Lyon had to become the "Balancing Metropolis", relying on regional cities like Grenoble or Saint Etienne, that fought the impoverishment and depopulation of urban centers, owing to a network of highways passing through La Part-Dieu. The original plan included major east-west and north-south green axes, pedestrian-friendly spaces such as a central plaza well served by public transit, and an iconic tower as tall as the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière from its historical hill.
However, the 1970s oil shocks and following housing crises altered the project as profitability became the main concern, isolating the district from the rest of city flows. Pedestrians were alienated because of the rupture of major axes caused by the expansion of the central mall, and also by favouring vehicle transport over public transit and finally by constructing concrete pedestrian bridges several meters above street level that isolated architectures into islands. Nevertheless, several iconic structures were elevated during this decade, such as the Municipal Library, the Mall and Auditorium and Tour Part-Dieu. To that end, La Part-Dieu differentiated itself from the historical center with a strong architectural identity by offering high end tertiary activities and public services.

Major rail node

In 1974, it was decided to transfer the old Brotteaux station to La Part-Dieu thanks to its central position. By that time, Line of Lyon Métro arrived inside the Mall in 1978. Half of the marshalling yards were converted into a large real estate project in order to fund the development of the new train station on each side of the rail tracks. The objective was also to integrate the district with its railways, that is, Central Lyon with eastern neighborhoods. 1983 saw the inauguration of France's first high speed rail TGV line, between Lyon and Paris. However, large urban roads surrounding the business district such as Viver-Merle Boulevard, kept the business district isolated from Central Lyon and the train station.

European business district

La Part-Dieu's expansion slowed down during the 1990s because of a strong momentum of urban development all over the agglomeration, regarding the Confluence district, the Cité Internationale, Gerland and La Doua Campus. The City Council drove efforts to minimize car travel and to encourage public transit within city limits. It also wished to establish a proper European business district doubling its office supply by densifying the area with 7 highrises such as the Swiss Life and Oxygène Tower, although most proposals were scrapped, because Lyon was focusing elsewhere.
Other objectives aimed at reintegrating the district within its surrounding urban environment by rethinking major axes, bringing the T1 tramway to life, renovating public spaces, improving connections between the métro and the main train station and demolishing elevated pedestrian footbridges.

Économy

Regional and urban context

region, with a GDP of 250 billion euros, is the second French and fourth European region in terms of GDP : 70,000 companies are created there each year. It is the first industrial French region and second only in terms of exports. Chemicals are the main export sector.
According to a 2018 study of Globalization and World Cities Research Network, Lyon is a Beta- city, meaning that it's an important globalized city, instrumental in linking their region or state into the world economy. It is also a credible alternative to Paris, with a GDP of 74.6 billion euros and France's second business park.

Economic landscape

Over half of La Part-Dieu's economic landscape is dedicated to sustainable city and smart systems, showing a 16 percent growth between 2008 and 2013 and now representing more than 30,000 jobs from 45,000 tertiary jobs from 60,000 total jobs inside the district.
La Part-Dieu hosts national and regional headquarters of banks, national and regional headquarters of leading consultancy firms and global headquarters of international groups.

Key Figures

Sole skyscraper and high-rises

The skyline is being shaped according to the Alps mountain range.
RankNameImageHeight
m 		FloorsYearStatusUseArchitect
1Tour Incity392015BuiltOfficeAlbert Constantin
Valode & Pistre
2Tour To-Lyon432022Under constructionOffice
Hotel		Dominique Perrault Architecture
3Tour Part-Dieu421977BuiltOffice
Hotel		Cossutta & Associates
4Tour Silex 2232021Under constructionOfficeMá Architectes
5Tour Oxygène282010BuiltOfficeArte Charpentier Architectes
6Tour Swiss Life211989BuiltOfficeChristian Batton
Robert Roustit
7Tour Caisse d'Epargne141976BuiltClosedRené Bellemain
Claude Eyraud
8Tour M+M131972OfficeResidentialPierre Dufau
9Émergence Lafayette172020Under constructionResidentialItar Architectes
Sud Architectes
Wilmotte & Associés
10Sky56132018BuiltResidentialAFAA
Chaix & Morel
11Sky Avenue152018BuiltResidential51N4E
Christian de Portzamparc
Clément Vergély

Tour Incity

, Lyon's tallest structure, was designed by Valode & Pistre and AIA architects. The spire reaches 202 meters and was installed by helicopter. Around 2,700 employees work on 32 floors and share the same corporate restaurant. On the top of that, Tour Incity was the first tower in Lyon to obtain the low energy-consumption label, along with HQE and BREEAM Excellent labels. It was completed in 2016 and currently hosts regional Caisse d'Épargne bank headquarters and several SNCF branches.

Tour Part-Dieu

Completed in 1977, this 164 meters tall building was designed by US-based architecture firm Cossutta & Associates for the main structure and by Stéphane du Château for its pyramid crown. Mainly occupied by office space, it also hosts a four-star Radisson Blu Hotel at the top. Originally named Crédit Lyonnais, it is now called Tour Part-Dieu, but is best known by its nickname, le Crayon or the Pencil. Its postmodern style is showing through the terracotta cladding made up of pozzolanic sands, imitating the reddish Lyon tiles, and also through the main volume echoing with the Rose Tower traboule in the Vieux Lyon quarter from French Renaissance.

Tour Oxygène

Tour Oxygène is a 117 meter tall high-rise crowned by a leaf resonating with the district's tradition of crowning high-rises, such as Tour Part-Dieu. Its base serves as an extension and as a direct link to the Part-Dieu Mall, along with an underground parking lot. Designed by Arte Charpentier Architects and constructed in 2010, Tour Oxygène reflects the dynamism that Lyon has been experiencing since the early 2000s.

Tour Swiss Life

Tour Swiss Life was designed by Christian Batton and Robert Roustit and completed in 1989. It reaches 82 meters and holds many Swiss Life office spaces. The whole architecture is surrounded by moats and is covered by typical late 80s and early 90s blue cladding. The company launched a project of a 220-meter skyscraper called Swiss Life 2, on the existing parking lot.

Other landmarks

Railway Station

Originally planned during the 1960s, Part-Dieu railway station only opened in 1983 as part of a high speed rail line project between Lyon and Paris. It was designed by Charles Delfante, Michel Macary,  Eugène Gachon and Jean-Louis Girodet, and serves as a link between Lyon and Villeurbanne, as its design allows pedestrian traffic under concrete rail viaducts. Currently saturated, it is undergoing major renovation and construction works, since it welcomes 120 000 travellers and up to 150 high-speed "TGV" trains per day.

Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse

La Part-Dieu covered food market is an international reference in terms of French and Lyon cuisine. 48 merchants work under the same roof and perpetuate local traditions of Lyon, the gastronomical capital of France. In 1859, the city inaugurated its first indoor food market with a 19th Century glass and cast-iron architecture in Cordeliers, easing the lives of merchants and consumers, and then decided to innovate the architectural design in the future La Part-Dieu district. Thus in 1971 the new covered market opened. Three decades later, the Halles were put in line with safety standards. It now bears the name of Paul Bocuse, the famed starred French chef from Lyon. Around 600,000 people visited Les Halles during the 2015 Festival of Lights weekend.

Mall

was the largest urban mall in Europe when it opened in 1975. Built on the cavalry barracks' former location, it references the past with a parking lot named Cuirassiers or "Light Cavalry". The shopping centre has 240 shops and restaurants over five levels and is frequented by 35 million visitors a year. It also has a 14 screen multiplex cinema. Mass transportation reinforced its position as a regional shopping hub. In 2010 the mall got a major extension thanks to the Oxygène Tower. This Unibail-Rodamco owned project is currently undergoing a major renovation project, totalling 300 million euros, according to a Winy Maas design.

Auditorium Maurice Ravel

This concrete shell was named after the famed Lyon musician and was drawn by architect Henri Pottier, assistant of urbanist Charles Delfante. Even though the new auditorium offered a great Roman theatre design, it lacked a decent acoustic one. However, several renovations fixed the sound issue. It currently hosts the Orchestre National de Lyon and a substantial organ from the former Trocadéro Palace for the 1878 Exposition Universelle.

Bourse du Travail theatre

was constructed between 1929 and 1936 in art deco style by Charles Meysson, chief architect of Lyon. The building facade is covered by a large mosaic from 1934, by the hand of 35 mosaists, according to a work from painter Fernand Fargeot, representing "the city embellished by labour" hence its name "Labour Exchange" or "Bourse du Travail". Interiors are covered by plaster and painted murals inspired by socialist realism.

Municipal Library

In July 1966, Mayor Louis Pradel decided to experiment the library of the future inside the Part-Dieu project. 27,000 square meters are distributed into 3 levels, each dedicated to public reading, studies and research, while a silo contains all historical documents from the former library. The library is opened to university researchers and middle school students alike. The 1980s saw the mass informatization of data. Users had to wait until the late 2000s to get an entrance opened towards the train station plaza. The structure is currently undergoing renovation.

City and Departmental Archives

This institution was created after the French Revolution in Lyon. Documentation from the Ancien Régime period used to be stored inside Hôtel de Ville vaults until it was all regrouped inside a 2014 site that opened in La Part-Dieu. It was drawn by Dumetier-design, Gautier-Conquet and Séquences. The consultation room of this golden-clad secure building currently hosts a large collection of maps, both public administrative and private reserves, notarial archives and documents from the historical library, from the year 861 till today.

Lyon Metropolis headquarters

headquarters were built between 1976 and 1978 by René Gimbert Jacques Vergély in a brutalist style. Four massive square-shaped pier foundations bear the whole suspended structure, doubling as elevator shafts, and four concrete boxes self intersecting on top of it form a crown. Mirror-like curtain walls reflect the surrounding urban environment.

Montluc Fort and Prison museum

Montluc Fort was erected in 1831 under Louis-Philippe's reign as part of Lyon's fortified belt, in order to protect the city from foreign invasions, especially Prussian ones. Montluc prison opened in 1926 from the existing fort. Under the Vichy Regime, it became a major Jewish deportation center and French Resistance prison. Jean Moulin and Marc Bloch were imprisoned there. It was later converted into a civilian prison in 1947 and into a museum in 2010.

Church of Blessed "Saint" Sacrement

Inaugurated in 1905, Blessed "Saint" Sacrament Church combines Gothic and Byzantine styles. Its architecture and unfinished bell tower were drawn by Louis Sainte-Marie-Perrin, architect of Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. The church was originally designed to preach Christian values in an immoral working-class neighbourhood with a high poverty rate and a low number of baptizations. It has recently being added to a catholic school by AFAA architecture firm.

Garibaldi swimming pool

Garibaldi swimming pool became the first indoor and public swimming pool in Lyon when it opened in 1933. Designed by architect C.Colliard and engineer Camille Chalumeau in a typical art deco style, it was only built in a matter of months.

Transportation

La Part-Dieu is the main Lyon transportation hub that includes :

Presentation of the project

Since the 2010s, La Part-Dieu has been undergoing a major transformation, after Lyon Metropolis launched an ambitious project in 2014 to renew the district thanks to a collaboration between La Part-Dieu Publicly-Owned Local development corporation and the AUC architecture firm. The whole project is
totalling around €2.5 billion between public and private investments.

Main objectives

La Part-Dieu 2030 project aims at preserving the district's architectural heritage and upgrading it for the 21st century. Modernization will satisfy current office space markets and spur economic development. Better integrated into the urban fabric and transit system, and with a strong focus on designing pleasurable residential and public spaces, the project promotes the contemporary French way of life, on a European level.
Main objectives consist of :