FR Architecture in France [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION DESPERATELY SEEKING DESCARTES methods of these architects. studied at the École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle in Paris, worliing Cartesian? The French say they are. René Descartes (1596-1650) was the founder of analytic geometry and also of 17th-centuiy rationalism, but he may be best known for the phrase "Cogito ergo sum" (I think therefore I am). of contemporary French architecture certainly reveals a lot of thinking, a wealth of complex fonns that seems to defy easy classification. What is clear is that trends like the minimalism seen in the work of English architects John Pawson or David Chipperfield has had a difficult time crossing the English Channel (or La Manche, as the French say). At the other extreme, French architects certainly aren't as en- amored of extravagant computer-driven forms as the nearby Dutch, but it was in France that Lars Spuybroek of NOX was able to build his Maison-Folie (Lille- Wazemmes, 2001). What other country would select cutting-edge Japanese archi- tects to build new structures for the Pompidou Center (Shigeru Ban, MeB) or the Louvre (SANAA, Sejima+Nishizawa, Lens)? in the past 25 years, France has called on foreign architects for high-profile projects, such as the Louvre Pyramid (I. M. Pei), the Bastille Opera (Carlos Ott) or the Grande Arche de la Défense (Johann OttovonSpreckelsen). The Mitterrandyears(1981-95)didagreatdeal to reveal na- tive talents at the same time as these major projects (Grands Travaux) were being carried out. Jean Nouvel with his institut du Monde Arabe on the Seine in Paris, Christian de Portzamparc (Cité de la Musique, Paris) and Dominique Perrault (French National Library) all came to public attention thanks to the substantial re- emerged almost simultaneously with the rise to notoriety of interior or fumiture designers like Philippe Starck or Jean-Michel Wilmotte, who worked closely with Pei on the museum design in the Louvre. Both of these figures have also delved into architecture with some success. More recently, a new generation of designers, a number of whom were initially trained by Starck's office, has emerged on the in- Jouin and Matali Crasset are in this category. With ups and downs often related to economic considerations and varying degrees of government intervention, France has thus succeeded in maintaining a vibrant architectural culture while opening its borders to outside designers more than most other developed countries. The ar- chitects featured in this book were selected on the basis of their recent work and from their eariy 40s (Matali Crasset or Manuelle Gautrand) to their early 60s (Jean- Paul Viguier or Denis Valode), but also in the scale and nature of their work. Chris- The "punk" look is definitely not Jean-Marie Duthilleul's thing. A brilliant considered major figures on the international architectural scene, while others, such as Jean-Marie Duthilleul, head architect of the French National Railways (SNCF), are not as well known to the general public despite having had a consid- erable impact on the public in France and abroad. Small offices are contrasted here with large corporate-style teams like Valode Pistre. southbound TGV lines. In a somewhat more understated style than Santiago Cala- IC 1 tcc ^^^ refashioned the railway station to make it a pleasant place to LULUK IS LIFE be, where light and soaring spaces are the rule rather than the exception. Despite the variety of the work presemed here, it may be that the rational, analytic character identified with Descartes can be discerned in the ambitions or