jeudi, juillet 13, 2006
La Défense de Paris
Rather than sully the skyline of this ridiculously picturesque city with steel and glass skyscrapers, some very smart people decided to put the CBD district of Paris outside of Paris. Genius! This district is called La Défense, not, as a Russian general once thought, because the country keeps its weapons arsenal under these buildings, but because it is the name of a statue that has stood there for A Very Long Time.
It was initially just offices, and no residential buildings at all, and the place was therefore apparently a bit of a ghost town on weekends. They've since opened up a big shopping centre there though, so when Alex and I went to check it out last Saturday there were lots of people, but still a strange sort of a no-man's-land. And apparently some time in the 70's they decided to put up some very low cost housing commission style apartments in the middle of all the shiny office blocks. Makes for some interesting contrasts, but God, it looks bleak. A bit of a 1984 feel about it. Not helped by the cemetary which rings one whole side of the complex.
It was initially just offices, and no residential buildings at all, and the place was therefore apparently a bit of a ghost town on weekends. They've since opened up a big shopping centre there though, so when Alex and I went to check it out last Saturday there were lots of people, but still a strange sort of a no-man's-land. And apparently some time in the 70's they decided to put up some very low cost housing commission style apartments in the middle of all the shiny office blocks. Makes for some interesting contrasts, but God, it looks bleak. A bit of a 1984 feel about it. Not helped by the cemetary which rings one whole side of the complex.
# posted by Jenny @ 14:04 
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It reminds me actually a bit of UNSW- I always thought that place was a bit surreal as well. Feels sort of like a deserted film set or something.
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