| MISSION GRAND AXE, LA DEFENSE, FRANCE, PARIS, 1991 |
| Transforming an existing urban fabric |
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La Défense is a strategic reserve that has so far kept Paris intact, a privileged expansion zone that enables the city – even the country – to modernize itself constantly, to make the tactical adjustments necessary to compete with other world capitals. It is a theatre of progress. Its presence has saved Paris; each "eyesore" realized there has prevented an invasion of the centre. Now that the first sector is "finished", the question of its expansion becomes acute. The existing is, in Europe, an ambiguous condition. Because Europe is the Old World, the "continent of history", there is an unspoken assumption that all its substance – even the most mediocre – is historic, and therefore has a right to eternal life. more... |
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FACT SHEET
Project: Transforming an existing urban fabric Client: EPAD France Year: 1991 Status: Competition 1991 Type: Masterplan Location: Paris, France Site: 7,500,000m2 EPAD territory, including La Défense; 120m wide "path of the axis" extending three kilometers west from La Grande Arche, La Défense, to meet the loop of the Seine; sixties, seventies, eigthies housing, offices, etc.; two cemeteries, university, park, future TGV and subway stations. Program: Urban plan for EPAD territory COLLABORATORS Yves Bories, Dominique Wurtz, DBW, Paris Critics: |
CREDITS
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