A Parisian architecture studio has proposed that the Notre-Dame’s destroyed roof be rebuilt as an educational and working greenhouse, complete with beehives.
After a fire destroyed the majority of the cathedral’s roof and spire, the French prime minister has announced that there will be an international architectural competition to redesign what has been lost.
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He said the redesign would need to envisage additions which are ‘…suited to the techniques and challenges of our time.’
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said that the cathedral will be rebuilt within five years and will be more beautiful than before.
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Studio NAB envisages the cathedral as being ‘in green for all’, sporting a rooftop greenhouse to reintroduce biodiversity and education into the city.
The studio sees the garden providing a space to learn and work in urban agriculture, horticulture and permaculture. Young and old would be able to reconnect with nature.
The iconic roof and spire of Notre-Dame need to be rebuilt- Studio NAB see this as a chance to make the city greener. Image: Studio NAB.
The gardens would be active and teach visitors about urban farming. Image: Studio NAB.
One of the major losses to the cathedral after the fire was the spire. This proposal would rebuild the spire as a place to house honey bee hives. The 180,000 honey bees which have lived on the cathedral’s roof since 2013 and miraculously survived the blaze will be relocated to the spire.
It would allow the training of beekeepers and remind visitors of the importance of bees to the environment.
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The beehives would be housed in the spire. Image: Studio NAB.
Studio NAB has suggested using the burnt oak from the fire to create planters and other structures in the greenhouse as a symbol of accepting the past.
The studio’s philosophy is to design structures that ‘keep people well and improve their environment’.
‘In a world substituting more and more the real for the benefit of the virtual, it seems important to us on our small scale to change a little bit this trend by putting the human at the heart of each project, far from any aesthetic or hazardous technical demonstration,’ reads its website.
Feature Image: Studio NAB.
