M Guerric, what did you think of the exhibition at Chaillot? I was over in Paris soon after the opening in May, and was amazed to see the public interest (two or three hundred people waiting to get in…) but was bitterly disappointed by the actual exhibition. For those who haven’t (yet!) seen it, the curator decided to place the work of each team in a strangely proportioned white box and display them all in the “gallerie des moulage” amongst plaster moldings of Gothic cathedrals… As a result, it was impossible to actually get anywhere near the work, and like so many others, I just went home and watched the videos on the internet !!!

Jamel Klouche was very interesting, I also very much liked the themes developed by Y. Lion and the Groupe Descartes (Stabilo sketches by David Mangin, perfect!), especially the proposal for tackling the sprawling suburbs by softening the regulations and allowing existing houses to be extended and developed, thus raising the density.

I am sorry for all of you who are just interested in Fancy-concrete-molded-bullshit by Edouard Francois, for occupying the space of this thread to talk for a second about the wide picture. In fact maybe ArchDaily could publish some of the work of the “Grand Pari(s)”, I’m sure SOME of you might be interested. ;-)

I think this projects exemplifies very clearly how we no longer can see the difference between conservation and Disney-like-invention. If we were talking about an existing structure, in which the transformation of use calls for a new expression of the facade (like for instance the windows of the – excellent – Tate Modern in London) then I see no problem in introducing new shapes, “editing” the old with the tools of our time. But this has nothing to do with it. In this case, it is a totally new building, where the whole question of its expression, and relation to a very powerful surrounding, up to its own identity is denied, simply by coating the building with a pastiche of what we like to think of as “historical”, just like the “Main street” of Disneyland. There is no attempt to synthesize the essence of this element, or offer an abstract, or contemporary expression of it. No justification either of this model, its origins and how it was developed: Edouard Francois is simply asking us to believe him, when he says that this is the “old” and “now I shall bring you the New”.

Paris is a very difficult city for architects to work on, because of the homogeneous aspect that has led it to be recognized worldwide for its beauty and, more importantly, for its strong identity. Furthermore, architects in France, like many other countries have put themselves (or let themselves be put) in a position of serious distrust. This situation has got so bad, that a majority of people (including those with a responsibility in town planning) seem to think that a bad copy of an old(ish) building, is anyway better than “letting one of these crazy architects destroy our beautiful city”.

How are we ever going to reverse this tendency, and develop an architectural expression of our time, capable of relating with the classical city, without copying it or mocking it, capable of maintaining the beauty and the essence of Paris, without covering it in a thick coat of varnish and labeling it like a antic in a museum ? I think this facade, far from answering the complexity of its situation and relation to the city, just ignores the question, and in doing so Edouard Francois misses an fantastic occasion to show us what architecture is really about!

Oh, just one more thing, for those of you inspired by this technique, Edouard Francois actually patented this principle, together with a few other similar ones… So watch out for the royalties !!! I tell you, Disney … ˚o˚