Beijing (People’s Daily) -- Chinese designers Cai Zeyu and Li Sibei won the People's Notre-Dame Cathedral Design Competition for "Paris Heartbeat," an elaborate proposal to rebuild the cathedral's roof and spire four months after the Paris landmark was engulfed and partly destroyed by a fire.
US independent book publisher, GoArchitect, announced the design competition in May dedicated to rebuilding the Notre-Dame Cathedral. With 226 entries from 56 countries, the winning proposal was chosen by the public with over 30,000 people voting online. The competition required an aerial view, an outdoor rendering,an image of unique design experience and a design brief within one month’s submission. Once the voting ended, Li and Cai's design receive wide recognition and won the top honor.
Screenshot of the design "Paris Heart Beat" by the Chinese designers. (Photo: designnotredame.com)
Li was born in Beijing and graduated from the Beijing University of Technology. Hangzhou-born Cai studied architectural design at Tsinghua University. They both attended Cornell University in the US, and work for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM).
"We've been closely focusing on the follow-up reconstruction of Notre-Dame after the fire," Li told the People's Daily on Wednesday.
The "Paris Heartbeat" design consists of three parts. First is a crystal roof as a mirror to reflect the historical urban context. Atop the spire is what the designers dubbed a "time capsule," a structure in magnetic levitation that opens every half century. The spire’s tip symbolizes as Paris heartbeat, moves rhythmically up and down, breathing and beating together with the city .The main spire is a city kaleidoscope to celebrate the vision of cityscape, which express their idea for Notre-Dame to keep up with the times.
(Photo: GoArchitect)
"In the progress of studying and preparing this design, I felt that Notre-Dame is not only architecture, but also like a living body. It burns, it survives. Every time a disaster left its impression upon Notre Dame that became an indelible part of its history," Li said.
(Photo: GoArchitect)
"Now we have witnessed an important moment of Notre-Dame" Li said.
"To express our greatest respect and best wishes for Notre-Dame is our biggest intention. No matter how the Notre-Dame will be restored eventually, we will expect the final reconstruction and offer blessings for it,” she explained.
"Paris Heartbeat," along with the other 225 designs, will be featured in a new book by GoArchitect titled “Visions of Notre-Dame.”
"The competition was a good opportunity to explore the possibilities. Based on designers with different backgrounds and attitudes, each design has its own meaning," Li said.