New Look for Tour de France

Location: France

Project: Development of a new brand image for the world-famous Tour de France annual bicycle race

Surface : n/a

Role: Architect/ design with Desgrippes Gobe asso. + Martin Francis

Status: Completed

One of the biggest sporting events in the world, the Tour de France decided to redesign all of its infrastructure. In this ambitious undertaking, we worked to devise the installation that, every day on television screens all over the world, popularize the Tour and make it one of the greatest shows on earth.

The Tour de France, one of the biggest and most popular sporting events in the world, is rebranding the totality its infrastructure. As part of this ambitious undertaking, we designed the installations that are seen every day of the Tour on television screens all over the world.

Since 1996, Mellett Architects has been engaged by Amaury Sports Organization to renovate all the Tour de France installations. Every year, a new creation has been added to this futurist family of structures and objects: first the Protocol Podium, then the finishing line, the press tribune, the starting line, the launching pad for time trials, and most recently the red flame and the identification signage on the route.

Each of these elements has been studied for mobility, extensibility, transportability and speed of setup and installation. A European team has pooled their skills to attain a result that is both efficient and aesthetic. The team that includes Desgrippes Gobe Associates, British designer Martin Francis, RFR agency, German pneumatic engineer Udo Rutsche, a Dutch company and a French car-body designer. Probably our best example in this series is the Pierre Perrève time trials ramp, named after our former colleague who participated in the project. A piece of equipment whose design and ergonomics are perfectly in line with the new image of the Tour : avant-garde, high-tech and esthetically compelling.