After the Fire: The Redesign of the Surroundings of Notre-Dame de Paris with Bas Smets

Thursday, December 18, 2025 From 1:00 PM To 2:00 PM Add to Calendar 2025-12-18 13:00:00 2025-12-18 14:00:00 After the Fire: The Redesign of the Surroundings of Notre-Dame de Paris with Bas Smets Part 3 of our Before and After series looks to the future of Notre-Dame’s surroundings. In 2022, the City of Paris chose Bas Smets and his team to redesign the public spaces around the cathedral. He will present plans for the forecourt, underground areas, the Jean XXIII garden, and the riverbanks—an ambitious project designed to create a cooler microclimate. French Library, 53 Marlborough Street, Boston, MA America/New_York

At French Library

In 2022, the City of Paris announced that the team led by Belgian landscape designer Bas Smets won the competition to reimagine the area surrounding Notre-Dame Cathedral. Bas Smets will describe how the team plans to redesign the square in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral and the underground parking spaces beneath it, the Jean XXIII square located behind the cathedral, the Seine riverbanks, and the adjacent streets, in order to create a microclimate to mitigate the effects of climate change. This extensive project is scheduled to begin in 2025 and end in 2030.

This talk will be conducted in English.

In English

FREE

Bas Smets received master’s degrees in Architecture and Civil Engineering from the University of Leuven and in Landscape from the University of Geneva. In 2007, he founded Bureau Bas Smets in Brussels, whose designs explore new ways to transform the city into an urban ecology, capable of producing cooling microclimates to counter climate change. In addition to his design work, Bas Smets has taught at various schools of architecture in Europe. In 2023, he was appointed Professor in Practice at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Moderated by Russell Kelley is Vice President of the Alliance Française Miami Metro and the author of The Making of Paris (Lyons Press, 2021) and Walking Through the Ages of Paris (Lyons Press, to be published in 2026).

In partnership with the Alliance Française Miami Metro, the Alliance Française de Chicago, and the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris

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