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Stunning, especially the pictures 'José, 89, Les Damiers, Courbevoie, 2012. (Laurent Kronental)' Livable and beautiful brutalism. Opposed to 'Les Tours Aillau

by zhte415 11y ago

Stunning, especially the pictures 'José, 89, Les Damiers, Courbevoie, 2012. (Laurent Kronental)' Livable and beautiful brutalism. Opposed to 'Les Tours Aillaud, Cité Pablo Picasso, Nanterre, 2014. (Laurent Kronental)' which appears like a regular tower high rise, but with round windows. While 'brualism' is a term that refers to concrete structures built in the 50s/60s/70s, take a look at a castle on top of a hill. It is brutalist. Take a walk down a street in London next to multi-story pre-Victorian office/official building, it is brutalist. Early US inner-city multi-story apartments (when the elevator started to become more commonplace) equally. The tripod stlye Hong Kong housing estates (central life block, with a corridor leading off at 120, 240 and 360/0 degrees, with 6-8 apartments per corridor). It is brutal. It is beautiful. And a lot of think is evident. It isn't to be confused with high-rise in general, which be it office or housing, is dreadful: "We have some land, put a building here, make it tall." That fails.

liotier 11y ago
> Stunning, especially the pictures 'José, 89, Les Damiers, Courbevoie, 2012. (Laurent Kronental)' Livable and beautiful brutalism. I lived in one of those apartments for a few years, with stunning view of whole of Paris - on the 14th July I could see a dozen different fireworks shows ! Big spaces, large terraces, huge windows... I love this place. The duplex apartments near the top of the buildings are my dream homes ! Alas it is not well maintained and a vicious circle having taken root it is now extremely expensive to maintain. Two thirds of the complex have been emptied and will soon be demolished to make room for a hugely tall Dubaï-like Russian office/apartment/hotel complex. > Opposed to 'Les Tours Aillaud, Cité Pablo Picasso, Nanterre, 2014. (Laurent Kronental)' which appears like a regular tower high rise, but with round windows. The apartments there are most definitely not as nice as Les Damiers - unlike Les Damiers, Tours Aillaud is cheap social housing. Used to be a difficult neighborhood, but being so close to La Défense it has improved a lot. The roundness and the colors are dear to my heart - I also have fond memories in those livingrooms with one round wall. There are far worse places around Paris - those chosen by the author are absolutely not "crumbling neighborhoods". Vision 80 (one of his pictures), right on Le Parvis de La Défense as the ideal embodiment of the Athens Charter even qualifies as luxury brutalist housing - the top floor apartment with three half levels might not be wheelchair accessible but they are otherwise gorgeous spaces... I would probably have bought one of them if I had not so many children. Their Achille's heel is the maintenance and running costs. Disclaimer: I grew up in La Défense, bathed in construction sites and Charte d'Athènes - I may not be the most objective person about lovely brutalism.

by zhte415 11y ago

liotier 11y ago

> Stunning, especially the pictures 'José, 89, Les Damiers, Courbevoie, 2012. (Laurent Kronental)' Livable and beautiful brutalism. I lived in one of those apartments for a few years, with stunning view of whole of Paris - on the 14th July I could see a dozen different fireworks shows ! Big spaces, large terraces, huge windows... I love this place. The duplex apartments near the top of the buildings are my dream homes ! Alas it is not well maintained and a vicious circle having taken root it is now extremely expensive to maintain. Two thirds of the complex have been emptied and will soon be demolished to make room for a hugely tall Dubaï-like Russian office/apartment/hotel complex. > Opposed to 'Les Tours Aillaud, Cité Pablo Picasso, Nanterre, 2014. (Laurent Kronental)' which appears like a regular tower high rise, but with round windows. The apartments there are most definitely not as nice as Les Damiers - unlike Les Damiers, Tours Aillaud is cheap social housing. Used to be a difficult neighborhood, but being so close to La Défense it has improved a lot. The roundness and the colors are dear to my heart - I also have fond memories in those livingrooms with one round wall. There are far worse places around Paris - those chosen by the author are absolutely not "crumbling neighborhoods". Vision 80 (one of his pictures), right on Le Parvis de La Défense as the ideal embodiment of the Athens Charter even qualifies as luxury brutalist housing - the top floor apartment with three half levels might not be wheelchair accessible but they are otherwise gorgeous spaces... I would probably have bought one of them if I had not so many children. Their Achille's heel is the maintenance and running costs. Disclaimer: I grew up in La Défense, bathed in construction sites and Charte d'Athènes - I may not be the most objective person about lovely brutalism.