Title	A NEW SETTING FOR A LEGENDARY TOURNAMENT
Brand	FEDERATION FRANCAISE DE TENNIS
Product/Service	ROLAND-GARROS
Category	D01. Retail Environment & Experience Design
Entrant	FEDERATION FRANCAISE DE TENNIS Besançon, FRANCE
Idea Creation	W&CIE Paris, FRANCE

Name	Company	Position
Gilles Deléris	W&Cie	Leading the creative team all along the project
Estelle Mege	W&Cie	Leading the architecture team
Aurore Guillon	W&Cie	Designing the new structure
Samuel Dubech	W&Cie	Director of Creation of interior spaces, signage street furniture, exterior design and events.
Valentin Baumont	W&Cie	In charge of redesigning the image and graphic codes of the brand
Anaïs Guillemane	W&Cie	Deploying the project step by step

Background

In 2014, Roland-Garros, the famous tennis tournament needed a new start... Created in 1925, the international Parisian event was facing strong competition to maintain its rank among the 4 major Grand Slam tournaments. The French tournament needed to be ambitious in order to assert and perpetuate its position in the circuit. The brand needed a complete makeover to meet international standards in terms of hospitality, cultural impact and overall quality of experience. W and the French Federation of Tennis, along with 4 architectures in charge of the new buildings (Chaix & Morel, ACD Girardet, Marc Mimram & Michel Goutal), embarked in a 7 years collaboration to restore the tournament to its former glory and project it into the future. But how to make this change without leaving the stadium's historic location in the heart of the French capital? IT WAS FIRST NECESSARY TO ALIGN WITH WHAT MADE ROLAND-GARROS SO UNIQUE...

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

By analyzing the expectations of millions of Roland Garros fans, athletes, medias and all those who make this exceptional event live, we went in search of what made this event unique... We discovered that Roland Garros wasn’t a sporting event like others… but is at the same time the mythical arena of the clay court game, where the greatest champions have written their achievements into legends, and a cultural event crystallizing all the French art of living, subtle mixture of elegance, audacity and relaxation. We decided to revisit the brand’s codes and redefine the global Roland Garros experience as a cultural place, to reinforce this singularity so dear to the hearts of its fans, reviving its rich history and unabashedly displaying its hedonistic and artistic fiber.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

We started by reworking the graphic codes to affirm the iconic nature of the Roland Garros brand. Throughout the new stadium, we embossed the brand as a footprint so that it becomes one with the place, and we reaffirmed the clay color, which is the vibrant heart of the stadium. A new palette of complementary colors punctuates and enriches the spaces. New graphic and typographic codes express the movement of the game and creates a consistent, refined and elegant vocabulary. Rethinking the paths of the multiple audiences… Creating an architectural grammar to renovate all the spaces that the brand occupies. We have created spaces enhanced with the legendary history. Revised all signage to better orient the public in the new stadium. Redesigned the reception and the Welcome Attitude for all the public. Preimmunized its food offer. And transformed the shopping experience by drawing on the DNA of Parisian department stores.

List the results (20% of vote)

The results of the project where: - Premiumization of all the courses (visitor / player / organizer satisfaction) - Increase of the average shopping basket and the rate of catch per visitor (F&B, store) - Revaluation of partners The Roland-Garros stadium is also one of the Parisian sites designated by Paris 2024 to host sports events during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024: tennis (Philippe Chatrier court), boxing (Suzanne Lenglen court), as well as wheelchair basketball and rugby events.