http://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/2009/05/14/946f2f2a-405a-11de-8924-4a6383e854a5.jpg
French Open's Roland Garros to get retractable roof over centre court

14 hours ago

PARIS — The French Tennis Federation has chosen the architect for a new retractable roof over the Roland Garros centre court, which will be ready in 2011 to prevent any rain delays at the French Open.

The new roof at Roland Garros will cover the centre court. The courts in a planned extension not far away from the main stadium are also set to get roofs.

The federation unanimously chose Marc Mimram as the architect for the project in a vote Wednesday. Mimram is well known as the designer of the overpass that connects France and Germany across the Rhine River in Strasbourg.

Wimbledon is using a retractable roof on its centre court for the first time this year.


Not others of pictures at the moment

Pictures:

http://www.fft.fr/FilInfos/albums/albumimram/album/index.html

My questions are:

1.Why did the old Roland Garros arena not have floodlights? Pretty disturbing when the games took longer then expected.
2.For a lot of years I heard that the reason tennis arenas didn't have a retractable roof was ,in a logic explanation, that a closed arena offers different conditions of play then in a open air arena now I see things change and more and more arenas get retractable roofs.
3.Nice to see modern design for tennis arenas. I haven't attended a tennis game since the US Open final in 2000 on the Arthur Ashe stadium, couldn't they have made the arena in Paris a bit bigger then 15.000?

So first of all, Rolland Garros doesn't host Night sessions, then play starts at 10 or 11am there, during June so players can play until 9pm approximatively.
Anyway Rolland Garros can be equiped with lights for night sessions.

Yes, retractable roof causes different conditions if closed, but you can't take the risk to see the rain disturbing the end of the tournament.

And 14,600 seater is a good number for Grand Chelem courts^^ everything is bigger at US Open :)...

I've seen the picture on the past link, it's a nice project, no Great but still veryu good... the only problem is that this new center court is sooo far away from the other courts!!!:nuts:

Wait... is it a new roof for the ceter court or is it a brand new center court? Or is it both?

^^ This is a new Court (opening 2013/14) AND they will add a retractable roof to the old Centre Court (2010/11) !

Renders of the New Centre Court :

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7843/leprojetdufuturrolandga.jpg
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/7868/image20090514446681625x.jpg
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/5954/image20090514446595625x.jpg
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/5858/image20090514446551625x.jpg
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/104/image20090514446545625x.jpg
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/1516/image20090514446503625x.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4820/image20090514446549625x.jpg
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/7843/leprojetdufuturrolandga.jpg
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/5959/image20090514446547625x.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6965/image1d.jpg
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/4470/image2i.jpg
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/3112/image3w.jpg

Three of the four Grand Slam venues will have retractable roofs in the near future. The Australian Open tennis complex has two (The Rod Laver Arena and the Multi-Purpose Arena were originally constructed with retractable roofs), Then the Centre Court at Wimbledon had a new accordion-like roof added, and now in the Roland Garros Tennis Complex, the Philippe Chatrier Court is getting a retractable roof and there will be a new court that is not even in close proximity to the other three courts, meaning there will be two centre courts in the French Open Complex. I wonder if a roof could be added to the Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA National Tennis Centre in NYC? The Ashe Stadium could never support a retractable roof anyway.

Renders of the New Centre Court :

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/7868/image20090514446681625x.jpg

It's a bit of a cheek calling it the new "Centre" Court, when it's quite some distance away from the rest of the courts!

Can a mod correct the title, please? ("New Roland Garros arena")

On the closed roof render you can see pillars and a rail. On the open roof render those are gone :?

^^ Yes, the architect told, they (whith glass walls) are rectractable also because he wanted an opened stadium which can be closed at the opposite of a closed stadium which can be opened...

FFT:
Doté d'une couverture dépliable en cinq minutes, le court principal proposera une capacité de 14 600 places. Côté ouest, des panneaux latéraux achèveront, en deux minutes, de fermer l'enceinte.

Damn, i dont like it., Just put roofs over Philliphe Chatrier and Suzzane Langlen!!., And open them ONLY when it's raining., Clay and excess moisture (with the roof closed) produce extra soggy conditions., Clay tennis MUST be played outdoors, with wind and sun., Damn, techology is overlaping true grinding old school tennis!!

any reason for the weirdly shaped bowl? the site perhaps?
it seems a bit far from the rest of the action

Damn, i dont like it., Just put roofs over Philliphe Chatrier and Suzzane Langlen!!., And open them ONLY when it's raining.,

Doesn't that rather defeat the point? :lol:

any reason for the weirdly shaped bowl? the site perhaps?
it seems a bit far from the rest of the action

This new tennis court is wierd because of the site indeed, and also because of some noise constraints with residential buildings in front of it.

It is far of the rest of the tennis courts because, as you can see, there is not enough space closer to them and any extension in the north, in the Bois de Boulogne (like the first projects) is not allowed because of ecological considerations.

Doesn't that rather defeat the point? :lol:

Oddly enough thats not true.- Sometimes the tournaments directors close the roofs when (by their own criteria) the conditions for fair play dont apply (wind, heat, humidity,rain (obviously)).- More and more times they are treating tennis players as divas.- The french open is a great time for the "grinders" to take the conditions for their advantage. Enclosing the enviroment just levels the players giving the less phisically prepared more chance of winning.

Maybe a new court and changed conditions will mean The Fed can finally beat Rafa

Mark my words: The "one" WILL beat Nadal in three weeks., 14th its at a glance!!!

To English speakers, the idea of moving the French Open away from Roland Garros might not seem that big a deal.

After all, the US and Australian Opens have changed venues, and even surfaces, several times in their lives. The US Open was even played on clay for a few years in the 1970s, for example.

And while moving the All England Tennis Championships away from Wimbledon would be unthinkable, surely moving the French Open would be no different to taking the British Grand Prix away from Silverstone. That is to say it'd be a bit odd for a while, but no great shakes.

In French, though, it's different: the French Open is always referred to as 'Roland-Garros' just as the All England is referred to as 'Wimbledon'.

And given that the venue itself is called Stade Roland Garros (both tournament and venue taking their names from a French aviation pioneer) the concept of moving it across Paris - or worse, across France - is tantamount to high treason.

In British terms, it would be like suggesting that the guardians of golf at the Royal & Ancient move from St Andrews to Telford; or suggesting to an American that their President should move out of the White House and into a budget-friendly tower block over the river in Maryland.

But despite the warning of tournament director Gilbert Ysern, the chances of Roland Garros moving away from Roland Garros are about as remote as the Seine freezing over during the May tournament.

"We have two options," said Ysern. "One is to make it bigger, the other is to move out.

"It would be heartbreaking to leave Paris but we have to consider it," he added.

It would be heartbreaking, but it won't happen - and he knows it. His words were targeted squarely at those sectors of the local residents and environmental lobbies who have consistently opposed modernising the venue with better infrastructure, retractable roofs and such like.

Pressure groups always punch above their weight at the start of such debates, but as soon as the wider world sits up and takes notice of the proposed sacrilege then the majority view will prevail. Ysern is just making sure that the majority gets off its derriere and starts resisting the move sooner rather than later.

^^INDEED, I DON'T WANT ROLAND TO MOVE OUT OF PARIS'S HEART, NO WAY!!!:wallbash:

It wouldn't even cross your mind guys to move the All England Club Championship out of Wimbledon? (Would be even crazier as Wimbledon is both the name of the tournament and the city which hosts it), well it's pretty much the same over here, Roland Garros has always taken place in the heart of Paris, in a very classy district, Roland ended up becoming a location in a way, it cannot be ousted...as a frenchman the idea of moving such a historical & famous tournament to the suburbs makes me wanna puke, it really puts me off...this situation is the environmentalists's fault, as always they've fiercely rebelled against the idea of expanding the site towards the Bois de Boulogne.Worse, the regional elections(every 6 years) which just came to an end yesterday were very positive for the environmentalists party...

To sum up, Roland Garros MUST stay at the Porte d'Auteuil otherwise I leave the country...:cry:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/22032010/58/tramlines-au-revoir-roland-garros.html (http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/22032010/58/tramlines-au-revoir-roland-garros.html)

http://images04.olx.fr/ui/2/33/04/f_32022904_4.jpeg

To English speakers, the idea of moving the French Open away from Roland Garros might not seem that big a deal.



Surely it would seem pretty pertinent to us given how we'd feel if they tried to have a British Open away from Wimbledon

The point was, English speakers call it the French Open. Outside of France it's associated with France rather than the region it's in. That's different from Wimbledon where, the world over, the suburb is inextricably linked with the tournament.

Inside France, however, it's a completely different story as the tournament is referred to as Roland-Garros and is therefore synonymous with that part of the city. That's what the article is getting at.

^^Marc Mimram's project no longer is topical.

Basically, there are several options right now. Roland Garros might stay where it is but to do so, it inevitably needs to expand its area, the Centre Court needs a retractable roof, the Suzanne Lenglen court is likely to be partially destroyed to allow a retstructuring (enlargment + roof). Recently a proposal has ,at last, been submitted by the Mairie de Paris to the FFT (Tennis French Federation), RG would be gaining 4 hectares more. Even though it's good news, will it be sufficient for RG's future, I doubt it...

The other 3 options are Gonesse, Marne-la-Vallée & Versailles.

1 Versailles's option seems compromised now as a military contingent has been occupying the site recently (below)http://www.leparisien.fr/images/2010/07/24/1010779_5d7dd164-96a4-11df-92f3-00151780182c.jpg

2 Marne-la-Vallée's one next to Disneyland Paris (render below) is now a serious contender as it would allow RG to quadruple its current area (from 8 ha to 35 ha ), anything would be conceivable in terms of architecture/size etc.http://www.leparisien.fr/images/2010/10/01/1090038_0ea12122-cce6-11df-9ef6-001517810e22.jpghttp://marnelavallee.typepad.com/.a/6a0133f34bdd01970b013487e4cbfa970c-450wi
http://marnelavallee.typepad.com/.a/6a0133f34bdd01970b0133f4c4eedf970b-450wi

3 The last one is Gonesse, which proposes more or less the same assets athough this site would suffer from a lack of prestige.

Here's a video released yesterday showing off Gonesse's proposal:
video/xf3wfr_gonesse-plaine-de-france-candidat-a_news

http://cache.20minutes.fr/img/photos/20mn/2010-10/2010-10-08/article_Sans-titre-1.jpg

The final decision will be made on 11 februray 2011!

http://www.20minutes.fr/article/606713/societe-internationaux-france-gonesse-imagine-video-roland-garros-2016

I have heard of Evry too. No ?

Going to Gonesse would transform the event in a carbon copy of US Open at Flushing with planes landing and taking off every 90 seconds!

Going to Disney kind of make sense provided they biff up the public transport in the area!

Versailles has the prestige to it! Evry project is hollow at best

The new centre court looks very beautiful but not bigger than the current one, i think its good to add new courts and seats for fans as they are increasing rapidly worldwide...

^^ This new centre court project was cancelled ! (or perhaps I didn't understand what you meant :dunno:)

stupid project! extensions must be near actual site!

why not redone the small courts that a waste of place in roland garros

I don't want a move. Is there a petition I can sign?

i don't think for the moment.

I would like to know who has decided for this brutal and idiot solutioN? :rant:

Wimbledon has been modernized without moving?!! :nuts:

A video presenting the project proposed by the City of Paris (expansion/refurbishment of the current site) :cheers:

xg3019_le-projet-d-extension-de-roland-garros_news


EDIT:


And here's a video presenting the project proposed by the city of Versailles (a new Roland Garros, built near the Palace of Versailles) :

xgha8e_candidature-versailles-roland-garros_sport

Sorry for being slightly off topic but I thought it was good fun...& it did take place at Roland Garros!:)

video/xdw7br_martin-solveig-dragonette-hello-sma_music

I don't want a move. Is there a petition I can sign?

No, but if you want you can vote in the poll of this tread in the French Forum :) :

PARIS - Roland-Garros (extension) (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=541394)

4 OPTIONS, only 1 DECISION

DAYS TO GO: 5


PARIS
iRXXB23YNKQ

GONESSEK4vnWtVOCAc

MARNE-LA-VALLEEiT2bmdaSNRE

VERSAILLESXzwf1sD1Tuk

Have also your say by voting here ---> http://www.lequipe.fr//VoteEquipe/VOTE_CHOIX_RG.html *



* just register (that's free of course) and then vote!

Many thanks guys! :)

Some renderings of the project proposed by the city of Paris (expansion/refurbishment of the current site) :cheers::


http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3998/siteactuelcopie.jpg

http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/1669/schemadirecteurcopie.jpg

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/4162/a075d6040secu.jpg

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7162/a075d6040aeriennerendu1.jpg

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3392/photojardinhd06.jpg

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5100/montagepersinto2.jpg http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/5905/montagepersintf4.jpg

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6121/nouveaucourt02copie.jpg

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/5678/prevueserres00552.jpg http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/8609/nouveaucourt03copie.jpg

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/8638/extstade.jpg http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5201/intstade.jpg

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/8705/prevueserres00052.jpg http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/364/stadeserreangle.jpg

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/5751/meulieres.jpg http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1972/mediacenter011a.jpg

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/72/restof.jpg http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/759/imagerestoextpowerpoint.jpg
Paris.fr

"La Ville de Paris a imaginé ce que donnerait le tournoi de Roland Garros en 2015. Véritable objet d'anticipation, le "Quotidien officiel de Roland-Garros" daté du dimanche 24 mai 2015"
Paris.fr

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/2534/capturedcran20110211222.jpg

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/9472/capturedcran20110211223.jpghttp://img689.imageshack.us/img689/2534/capturedcran20110211222.jpg

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/6325/capturedcran20110211230.jpg

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/2534/capturedcran20110211222.jpg

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/2534/capturedcran20110211222.jpg

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/2534/capturedcran20110211222.jpg

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/2534/capturedcran20110211222.jpg

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/2534/capturedcran20110211222.jpg

paris.fr/Quotidien officiel de Roland-Garros 24/05/2015.pdf (http://www.paris.fr/portail/viewmultimediadocument?multimediadocument-id=96560)

^^I hope that project wins!

This whole story was a joke. :rant:

I just hope whatever decision is made that I do not have to constantly have to scroll past pages and pages of large jpgs of the same photos again and again.

^^ ???

i don't see why to have organized all this circus just to decide to extend actual RG :bash:

The French Open will continue to be played at Roland Garros after officials rejected proposals to move the Grand Slam event to another venue.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/9396274.stm

^^ Indeed !!!! :banana: :banana: :banana:

Here are the results of the vote by the 195 members of the French Tennis Federation General Assembly):
Selon les informations du Figaro, au premier tour, le projet de Paris a recueilli 55 % des voix parmi les 195 votants de l'Assemblée générale de la FFT, devant Marne-la-Vallée (25 %), Versailles (17 %) et Gonesse (3 %). Paris a ensuite obtenu 64 % des voix dans un deuxième tour qui réunissait Marne-La-Vallée (21 %) et Versailles (14 %). Enfin, lors du dernier tour, Paris a devancé Marne-La-Vallée avec 70 % des voix contre 30 %.
lefigaro.fr

First round:
City of Paris: 55%
Marne-la-Vallée: 25%
Versailles: 17%
Gonesse: 3%

Second round:
City of Paris: 64%
Marne-la-Vallée: 21%
Versailles: 14%

Third round:
City of Paris: 70%
Marne-la-Vallée: 30%

soon you'll hear that French federation of rugby decided to stay in stade de france... :ohno:

M5o7iIr7X4E
I'm looking forward to it so bad...:)

When will the renovation works start?

The point was, English speakers call it the French Open. Outside of France it's associated with France rather than the region it's in. That's different from Wimbledon where, the world over, the suburb is inextricably linked with the tournament.

Inside France, however, it's a completely different story as the tournament is referred to as Roland-Garros and is therefore synonymous with that part of the city. That's what the article is getting at.

Quite a late reply, but... speak for the English speaking world only.

For everyone else is Roland Garros, not the French Open.

When will the renovation works start?

A FIVE-YEAR PLAN

The following is the provision timescale for the renovation work being carried out on Roland Garros stadium

2013
Completion of new National Training Centre at the Georges Hébert stadium.

2014
Opening during the French Open of the new media centre and the new 5,000-seater court at the Auteuil Greenhouse Garden.

2015
Opening of the newly developed Fond des Princes area during the French Open, including a new 2,000-seater show court.

2016
Opening of the new Philippe Chatrier court with retractable roof during the French Open. Work on this court will be carried out over two years.



You can find other news there :

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/about/newstadium.html

^^Thanks.

Save Roland Garros from the Nimbies.
http://www.petitions24.net/unouipourroland

Last week, the FFT (French Tennis Federation) unveiled exclusively the future French Open's new plans, modified further to the dialogue phase. Everything should be ready for 2017 instead of 2016.

http://www.sport24.com/var/plain_site/storage/images/tennis/roland-garros/roland-garros-les-serres-d-auteuil-vont-etre-epargnees/12591801-1-fre-FR/Roland-Garros-les-serres-d-Auteuil-vont-etre-epargnees.jpg

http://medias.francetv.fr/cpbibl/url_images/2012/02/03/image_72338415.jpghttp://medias.francetv.fr/cpbibl/url_images/2012/02/03/image_72338437.jpg
http://medias.francetv.fr/cpbibl/url_images/2012/02/03/image_72338334.jpghttp://medias.francetv.fr/cpbibl/url_images/2012/02/03/image_72338394.jpg
http://medias.francetv.fr/cpbibl/url_images/2012/02/03/image_72338474.jpg

I can't wait for the night session matches!!!:)

http://www.lefigaro.fr/tennis/2012/02/03/02004-20120203ARTSPO00329-roland-garros-les-serres-d-auteuil-epargnees.php

Some pics & renderings of the future expansion, the refurbished Court Central & the new Court n°1:

Current site
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9782/a075d6040secucopie2.jpg

Expansion & the new Court n°1 (5,000 seats)
http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/7162/a075d6040aeriennerendu1.jpg

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/7408/1825919d38ceace461c11e1.jpg

Refurbished Court Central (15,000 seats + retractable roof)
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/1963/image2011021413549474co.jpg

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/2682/leprojetdunouveaucourtc.jpg


-----------------------


The whole current site:
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/3998/siteactuelcopie.jpg

Future site:
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1669/schemadirecteurcopie.jpg



PS: A retractable roof on the Court Suzanne Lenglen (10,000 seats) is also planned, but later.
.