Porte de la Muette: Paris Concrete Bowl

The Genesis of a Butterfly’s Metamorphosis (part I and II)
Words and pics by Mike Van de Ouderaa

“How can a Bowl  be transformed from a certified piece of shit into a deep and sweet reason to visit Paris? Skater wise naturally you’d say that it is always good to ride those smooth sidewalks they get here and to jam (sometimes literally!) into the traffic of the big avenues. But after some time you can be bored of some of the humans living in Paris… ego trips on any levels can be really disturbing for a good ride. And you suddenly realize that there is nearly no tranny in town, this fact finally leads you to leave town in search of a good pool to fill your addiction to adrenalin.”

“Those times are gone my friend!

The story is that something like 10 years ago some concrete was wasted for some bowl shaped certified piece of shit near Porte de la Muette in a stadium. It was not only the finishing (our wheels have seen worse) nor the rubber coating you discover on those things, but the shape was also an apology to the bad taste in bowl design, probably made by some surf skate style haters.

And all of a sudden the city wants to change that fact which was like a scar on the face of what they love to call “La ville lumière” (The city of Light).

Here enters in that story a skater architect named Stephane Flandrin from Constructo. The guy is dedicated to the struggle that it is to build some good parks to ride in that land where all the assess of the bureaucracy seem to make it impossible (I can tell you something about that).

He fought for the design (a lot of roller bladders wanted it mellower) and called us to fight for the building (who wants a fight here!! I got my friend with me!) And here we are! Always ready to drop the hands in the mud! Or dig soil with millions of stones for the good reason to be the first to ride what’s built and than leave it behind like a trace of a new civilization for the generations to come, to give them a good reason to waste their body for the pleasure to live fast.

The big part will be 250 radius and 30 of vert… in euro centimeters… No pool coping in sight. Sorry for that. Medium part 230 radius, 200 high. Shallow 180 radius, 120 high with a corner at 180 high.

“I got some up dates for you, more time now than before ’cause the butterfly take a little time, sweat, and blood to get the fuck out of his caterpillar. By now we are only 10 days away from the moment to see (and feel it) fly.”

“……Now that the old cocoon has been shred down and out, the body of the new born butterfly might finally stretch under the sun and take a new shape growing to become another form of the life, in a day by day transformation …..with love to the dedication to skateboarding.” – Mike Van de Ouderaa, Concrete Flow

Update (October 25th, 2011):

The transmutation goes on:

“After six and a half weeks of gestation the thing finally got of the Parisian earth, it’s big and fast enough to break your bones, and… ho my god! It’s not a butterfly!!.. It’s like some monster dragonfly!

We the worker team at Concrete Flow would like to thank all the people who helped voluntarily, the architect, the main contractor, and our mentor and teachers: the workers at Team Pain.

With gratitude and dedication.

Personally I would like to quote a sentence I read in a book about building houses from driftwood on the pacific coast:”my customers think i work for them, but i work for the spirit” – Mike Van der Ouderaa