Sustainability is not just a physical concept in the way we may think about sustainable development. It also applies to the spiritual, aesthetic and cultural dimension of our lives. Are we happy about where we live and what is happening around us? Do we have confidence that the environment is improving for ourselves and our children? Health, sports, culture and entertainment. Education, safety, and concern for our marine environment, Monaco’s reputation as a caring nation. These are the facets of Monaco that make it special as well as its architecture. HelloMonaco takes a look at the multi-billion-euro projects that are shaping the Monaco of tomorrow and applies this more spiritual concept of sustainability to them. Does the Monaco of tomorrow have the same character that makes it so special today.
Casino Square
Can we imagine Monaco without a vibrant Casino Square. It is the beating heart of Monte-Carlo – Hotel de Paris, Cafe de Paris, the Atrium, Salle Garnier, The Casino. That is one reason that SBM is determined that 2019 will welcome the completion of all the development activity in the square. The jewels that we know, and love remain. One of them, The Hotel de Paris will just shine that much brighter, with a beautiful new interior courtyard, two mega-luxurious suites including the spectacular “Princess Grace” one, and, of course, the new Le Grill. And rounding out the square, to use a pun, One Monte-Carlo (Richard Rogers and Alexandre Giraldi’s design) links in harmony a welcome expanse of luxury shopping, giving variety, adding yet more class to the joie de vivre of the square – and alive with people living on the upper floors of the seven buildings.
The New Princess Grace Hospital
On a longer 10 year horizon and with an eye to our health – foundations of the New Princess Grace Hospital at the highest part of Avenue Pasteur take shape. This is a truly colossal project, giving the highest priority to the most modern of medical facilities with 450 beds with ample parking.
Portier Cove
A little more of Monaco every 50 years would be grand. First Fontvieille reclaimed from the sea and now Portier Cove. This is an imaginative ecological development that will see Monaco with 6 additional hectares reclaimed from the Mediterranean. A very strict priority is being placed on preserving the marine ecology. This month will see dredging and amassing of sediment. A phase to gradually put a major protective belt around the whole enclave is planned through 2019. Meanwhile the entry gateway to the Cove and parking at the Portier roundabout is scheduled for 2020. And five years later, hey presto around 2025, the Cove in all its glory as imagined by the designer Renzo Piano. Man and the sea, Monaco and the sea in harmony, sustainable for future decades.
Islot Pasteur
(Avenue Fontvieille up to the cliff by Avenue Pasteur)
Education being a priority, a public college for Monaco, open to 1500 students, is targeted for 2021 on the large space made available after the decommissioning of railway lines. It has been an active building site since 2016. Though just a giant chasm right now, in an area of 250 metres by 35 metres, it will site the college together with a gym, swimming pool and auditorium. Not only that, but next to it, in a glass building, will be the Directorate for Education, a new Mediatheque, 9000 square metres of office space, a postal sorting office, a data centre and a recycling centre – not to mention 900 parking places. Education and recycling for a sustainable future.
Testimonio 2
Priority again to Education and children. Abutting the roundabout by Monte-Carlo Bay and between Avenue Princess Grace and Boulevarde d’Italie will be the International School on four levels and a day-care centre for 50 children (crèche). Ample parking space and a tower with 150 apartments spanning the two avenues complete the project designed by Alexandre Giraldi and Architectonica. It promises to transform and breathe a new dynamic in the whole area around 2021.
Dynamism, splendour, beautiful architecture, Casino Square prominent and shining. Priority to Health, Education and children. A new enhanced relationship with the marine environment with an ecological showcase in Portier Cove where man and the sea come together in harmony. Monaco sustains itself in spirit and with all its values well into the future.
