Paris Rive Gauche - Architecture - New York Times no new museums that I can find - in the general discussion. However, this does sound like a really interesting debate. I'd have to say if it ends up like la Defense - then its yet more destruction of a city's fabric in the hope of some innovative freedom for individual designers to express themselves. The wonder of the older parts of Paris is that the anonymity of the similar height / facade / fenestration architecture is enlivened by the life in the streets - the corner cafes and the odd ball petrol stations and cafes jostling for space with the parked cars and bikes and the people wandering and bustling through the streets, occupying the ground floor. It is a revelation and a great pleasure to cram one's luggage into one of the tiny 'hotel' rooms in one of these buildings, where the hotel is merely a couple of floors of the whole apartment complex, with a cafe / bar on the ground floor. This review does not promise that type of 'life'. However, in all these discussions, I wonder where are the voices of the people who have to live in these buildings. Do people actually like / prefer to live / work at la Defense instead of in the hearts of some of the older arrondissements? Will they want to / do they already want to move into this new Rive Gauche? Sounds like a research project?
(Photo illustrates Sunday morning in la Defense 'neighbourhood')
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