Bjarke Ingels, head of architecture practice BIG, has been explaining his masterplan for Europa City in a newly-released video. The scheme will be one of the largest leisure developments in Europe over the next five years.

Developer, Alliages, will begin construction in 2017 and the city will open in 2020. The development is 16km (10m) from Paris.

Ingels says the scheme will combine “authentic, lively, dense urban environments and streetscapes with open landscapes which let in the sun and have long views, to create a new and interesting urban hybrid.”

The project will be split into quarters: the ‘pop’ area – with a theme park; the ‘zen’ area – which will have an urban farm; the ‘sun’ area – with waterpark and hotel; the ‘xtrm’ area – to include a snow park and adventure park; the ‘showbiz’ area – with theatres and restaurants – and the ‘hype’ zone with department stores, an exhibition hall and cultural zones. All will be linked to the main transport hub and grouped around a central plaza. The roof will be developed as greenspace with cuttings through to the buildings and streets below.

Leisure Development Partners (LDP) has been defining the entertainment programme and providing feasibility analysis for the scheme, as well as identifying potential operators and partners. “Europa City is the largest mixed-use leisure, retail and entertainment project currently planned in Europe, with an exciting mix of attractions and accommodation,” LDP senior partner and co-founder Michael Collins told CLADmag.

“The project team recognises the increasing importance of leisure as an anchor for retail and mixed-use schemes, with plans for cutting-edge attractions, which are capable of driving visitors to the project from outside the typical retail catchments and delivering strong image, employment and economic impacts,” he said. @bjarkeingels

Watch the video here