Paris Offers Travelers a Digital Haven

The Digital Break by Parisian designer Mathieu Lehanneur is exactly that: a green digital haven amidst the bustling city of Paris. Set up on the Rond Point of the Champs-Elysées, it is a visible part of the underground fibre optic network supplying the French capital and provides free WiFi access for everyone on the streets. Its main part is a protective shelter with a living green roof, which makes it as attractive from the ground as from a balcony. It is surrounded by hard-wearing concrete swivel chairs in which people can enjoy a moment of privacy or work and interact with others. They are equipped with miniature tables where you can put down your computer to work, your book or just your elbow. There are sockets to power and recharge electronic devices and a large touch screen provides real-time information about services in the city: guides, news and augmented reality for tourists and visitors. Mathieu Lehanneur thinks of the Digital Harbour as a prototype for a new range of urban architecture and compares it to water fountains, which used to be a gathering point during the analogous days: “Like the Wallace fountains, which since the end of the 19th century have offered Parisian the free drinking water which was circulating beneath their feet, Digital Break allows everyone to benefit, like a real public service, from a high-speed WiFi connection by raising it from beneath the ground.”

Find out more about Mathieu Lehanneur at www.mathieulehanneur.fr