This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Berlin. The twentieth century changed nearly all cities, but perhaps none more so than Berlin. From its destruction in World War II that left few historic buildings intact to its division until 1989 that brought together the architecture of two competing ideologies into one city, Berlin’s modern and contemporary architecture speaks to a past that seldom accompanies such recent additions. The city is filled with new and wonderful architecture that might not have found space in other cities in Europe. With that in mind, we were unable feature all our readers’ suggestions on the first go around. We will be adding to the list in the near future, so please add more of your favorites in the comment section below. Once again, thanks to all our readers for your help.

The Architecture City Guide: Berlin list and corresponding map after the break.

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This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Paris. For centuries Paris has been the laboratory where innovative architects and artists have come to test their ideas. This has created a city that has bit of everything. Where the architecture of some cities seems to undergo phases of punctuated equilibrium, Paris’s architectural fossil record gives an impression of gradualism; all the missing links are there. This makes it easy to trace the origins of the most contemporary ideas throughout history. Nothing seems to come out of nowhere. If you look around you kind find the design’s inspiration running through the city’s Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Rocco, Neo-Classical, Empire, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modern, Post-Modern, and Contemporary Architecture. Seen in another context, many of Paris’s buildings might seem out of place, but the bones of this city support the newest iterations on the oldest and most profound questions. The 24 contemporary designs that comprise our list probably should not be viewed outside of this context, even though that is the stated goal of some of the designs.

As the most visited city in the world and arguably the capital of culture, it is impossible to capture the essence of Paris in 24 modern/contemporary designs. Our readers supplied us with great suggestions, and we really appreciate the help and use of their photographs. The list is far from complete and we realize that many iconic buildings are not yet on the list. We will be adding to it in the near feature, so please add more in the comments section below.

The Architecture City Guide: Paris list and corresponding map after the break.

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© Franck Bohbot

Previously featured here on ArchDaily as one of our AD Classics, the National Library of France by Dominique Perrault was built in hopes to be the most modern library in the world. The competition of 1989 that included projects from 244 internationally renowned architects was won by Dominique Perrault, who was only 36 years old. Photographer Franck Bohbot recently shared with us an extremely rare glimpse of the National Library, with a completely empty interior.

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Z-Chair Chair / Zaha Hadid

Revealed earlier this month in Milan, Sawaya & Moroni‘s New Collection 2011 includes pieces from high profile architects Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid, and Dominique Perrault. William Sawaya and Paolo Moroni, founding partners of Sawaya & Moroni, focus the production of their furniture on contemporary designs intertwined with differing cultural backgrounds, resulting in unique pieces and a selective group of architects and artists.

Ben van Berkel of UNStudio also presented new furniture this month in Milan.

More about the chairs after the break.

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©Yuri Palmin

As an edition to the developing urban project in eastern Paris, the French National Library was built in hopes to be the most modern library in the world. The competition of 1989 that included projects from 244 internationally renowned architects was won by Dominique Perrault, who was only 36 years old. This project would be the defining design of Perrault‘s career.

Read more about the history of the National Library of France after the break.

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© Patricia Parinejad

Photographer Patricia Parinejad shared with us some photos of the French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale designed by Dominique Perrault Architecture. You can see more images after the break. read more »

Emblematic figure of French architecture, Dominique Perrault gained international recognition after having won the competition for the National French library in 1989 at the age of 36. This project marked the starting point of many other public and private commissions abroad, such as the Velodrome and Olympic Swimming Pool of Berlin in 1992, the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg in 1996, the Olympic Tennis Center in Madrid in 2002, the campus of EWHA Womans University in Seoul.

Since 2009, Dominique Perrault is working on the development of the Thermal Baths in San Pellegrino, the New City Center in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, the new FFS train station district in Locarno, Switzerland, the Grand Theatre in Albi and the Dobrée Museum in Nantes, France.

Dominique Perrault has been appointed by the French President to curate the French Pavilion for the 12th Venice Architecture Bienniale.

Lecture will take place this Friday, February 26 at 6:30pm at the Avery Hall, Wood Auditorium, Columbia GSAPP.

This past April, Dominique Perrault completed the campus center for Ewha University in Seoul, Korea.  The new ‘campus valley’ provides both Ewhaians and prospective female students with much-needed space for continuing education and student services.

Further project description after the break. read more »

French architect Dominique Perrault has been selected to design the new city center of Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. The city center will be built in the next ten years and will house various state institutions. The center will be located along Sofia’s main boulevard “Tsarigradsko Shosse”. The vision of Bulgarian prime minister Sergei Stanishev and his brother – architect Georgii Stanishev – is to gather ministries and state agencies in the new “Sofia city”, relocated from the current center of Sofia.

Perrault was selected among six practices, all of them world architectural design leaders including Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, and Massimiliano Fuksas. Two Bulgarian firms also participated in the final stages of the contest.

Seen at Bustler. More images of Perrault, Foster and Hadid’s proposals after the break.

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