It was in 1969 that the Bordeaux Fair permanently left the Place des Quinconces to settle on the banks of the lake. Initially, there was only one building, Hall 1, which quickly established itself as an architectural signature of the city that we owe to the leading architects of the Trente Glorieuses, Francisque Perrier and Jean Dubuisson. When it was completed, it was a resolutely modern building with extraordinary dimensions (read elsewhere).
The 35th Bordeaux International Fair in June 1956 when it was still held on the Place des Quinconces.
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Its construction coincided with the birth of the Bordeaux-Lac district, in a place which was then only a desert. You have to imagine that he cohabited, near a 160 hectare body of water, with only two hotels…
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Hall 1 was built in a desert area, part of the program to create the brand new Bordeaux-Lac district.
Over the decades, the site will be enriched with three new halls, 2, 3 and 4. And the large surface area of the car parks has been used to accommodate solar panels, which were inaugurated in February 2013.
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An aerial view of the two buildings in 1991.
In December 2023, in the columns of “Sud Ouest”, Stéphane Delpeyrat, vice-president of the Metropolis in charge of the economy, launched a bombshell by announcing the project to destroy hall 1, to rebuild it a little further back, because it has become obsolete. This did not fail to arouse reactions, such as that of Bordeaux tourist guide Yves Simone, who went on a crusade to save the emblematic building and supported by renowned architects: Michel Pétuaud-Létang and Jean de Giacento. A few days later, on January 18, 2024, during his wishes to the press, the mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, was cautious in announcing that it was just a hypothesis.
On December 6, 2024, a vast redevelopment project was presented to the Bordeaux-Métropole council. The deliberation indicates a desire to “ensure the maintenance of the function of the Exhibition Center and initiate the renewal of Hall 1 as a priority”. Then the question arises of its destruction or renovation.
The Hall of Records
In 1969, it was the largest exhibition hall in Europe, 847 meters long, 60 meters wide, 50,820 m² of surface area, 2,200 m² of concrete, 2,100 tonnes of steel, 162 kilometers of electrical cable, 58 tons of paint, with a parking lot of 10,000 spaces.
