Dôme des Invalides

It's a classic, but it's always nice to see. I also took this photo from the rue Boissy d'Anglas, like the one 2 days ago. It's Le Dôme des Invalides, that I showed several times here, but not from this angle. You don't see much of that kind of architecture in New York, where I just arrived a couple of hours ago ;) But I love skyscrapers too! If you want to join the NYC PDP party on Tuesday 28, around 5:30/6:00 pm. Stay tuned..

More Towers

More towers, yes, but no more like this! As a matter of fact, the next tower that is going to be built in Paris will have very little to do with that kind of quick and dirty 70ish cheap skyscraper - nor with the Montparnasse style tower! - but with a stunning, ambitious architectural project. It will be called "Le triangle", will be located in the 15th arrondissement and will be more like a "vertical city" (in which you'll find apartments, offices, cafés, gardens...) than anything else. It's just a project for the time being, but I really hope it will be built. Have a look at this little video, I'm sure you will agree ;)

Dust to dust, stones to stones, electricity to electricity!

I've been passing by this beautiful industrial building for several weeks now and I have been willing to photograph it for a long time. Last night, I did! It's called Le Losserand (because it's located rue Losserand) and it's an old sub power station built in the 20's, that has been turned into offices this year. The interesting story is that its architect, Emmanuel Saadi, embedded no less than 45 000 solar cells in it, in order to produce some electricity (about 70 80kW/h, which is not much, but better than nothing!). The other interesting part is that they kept its old original structure, its stones in particular, called Meulières and very typical of Paris.

More towers in Paris?

Should there be more towers in Paris? If you look at this photo - that I took in the 13th arrondissement - I bet you'll probably answer "no way"! And though providing Paris is one of the smallest cities in the world (105 km² - 40 sq. miles*) and that the price of housing is way too high for a lot of people, our mayor is considering building new towers for housing. A very difficult decision to make, providing that according to polls, Parisians clearly don't want new ones... If you want to have a look at the projects, check the video here. (*) As a comparison, the area of London is 1 579 Km2 (610 sq. miles) and Berlin 891,75 km2 (344 sq. miles).

Beaubourg Center Pipes

I debated on whether or not to show you this photo or not. For me, it's a bit cliché of many Paris photographs, but I really liked the way it turned out. Of course, it is of the architecture at the Centre Pompidou. People usually say that they really love it or hate it. Me, I personally am in between. Ok, I contradicted myself, but what do you think?