The Ancien Régime’s Fatal Blow

[Disir]

Greeted with hostility and derided as a modernist affront when first proposed as the main entrance to Paris’ Musée du Louvre, the 71-foot-high glass and stainless steel Pyramide du Louvre designed by I.M. Pei, FAIA, now rivals the Tour Eiffel as one of France’s most recognizable architectural icons. As the 2017 recipient of the AIA Twenty-Five Year Award, it has once again been recognized as a legendary project that stands the test of time.

Born of President François Mitterrand’s early-’80s quest to modernize the Louvre—and memorialize his power by erecting monuments—Pei’s pyramid is the form that thrust the 800-year-old Palais complex into the modern era. As one Twenty-Five Year Award juror noted, it “established a benchmark for new, modern architecture that enriches an historic setting with integrity and respect for both history and progress.”
http://www.architectmagazine.com/aia-architect/aiafeature/the-ancien-regimes-fatal-blow_o

I have never been a fan of modernist architecture. I think I have more of a well-ok-you-exist attitude. I don't know if I would feel the same way if I was standing there. I have gone to see Pei's work in the US and I was not really as impressed as I suppose I should be.

 

[Bleipriester]

The deep state places its symbols directly in front of us.

 

[there4eyeM]

It is not bad looking, but a personal opinion is that its place was not there.

 

[there4eyeM]

La Biblioteque Nationale François Mitterand should have been a huge pyramid instead of the absurd form-that-does-not-follow-function it was given.

 

[fncceo]

It would be tres difficile to argue that a pyramid represents modernist architecture.

 

[Disir]

It would be tres difficile to argue that a pyramid represents modernist architecture.

Often imitated but, never duplicated.

 

[there4eyeM]

Common geometric construction.

 

[Disir]

La Biblioteque Nationale François Mitterand should have been a huge pyramid instead of the absurd form-that-does-not-follow-function it was given.

I kind of agree. It looks horrific and walking from one building to the next for collections is idiocy. My hold back is that I haven't been inside and it is a library. It's not that I can read French or anything but it's mere existence is the be all and end all.

 

[there4eyeM]

The book-form structures were supposed to be where the books were kept, but they let in too much light, so the tomes are underground. Great minds...

 

[Disir]

Well, that's stupid. So what are the buildings for?

 

[fncceo]

the 71-foot-high glass and stainless steel Pyramide du Louvre designed by I.M. Pei, FAIA, now rivals the Tour Eiffel as one of France’s most recognizable architectural icons.

It might be interesting to note that the Eiffel Tower was widely considered to be a modernist eyesore when it was first erected in 1889.

 

[Disir]

the 71-foot-high glass and stainless steel Pyramide du Louvre designed by I.M. Pei, FAIA, now rivals the Tour Eiffel as one of France’s most recognizable architectural icons.

It might be interesting to note that the Eiffel Tower was widely considered to be a modernist eyesore when it was first erected in 1889.

I can believe that. It was built in a time where world fairs/expositions were taken seriously and city planning was a thing. Yanno, I am most familiar with the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and many of the major players in this time period. I wonder if I can find some books on the 1899 Expo that don't focus exclusively on the Eiffel Tower. I wanna learn about that.

 

[there4eyeM]

The Eiffel Tower was not intended to remain permanently.

 

[Disir]

That was all temporary. In fact, what is now the Museum of Science and Industry was temporary and was rebuilt to be a permanent structure.

This time period has wonderful people like this guy:
Frederick Law Olmsted - Founder of landscape architechture
NYC work.
Olmsted–Designed Parks : NYC Parks

World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893

World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893

Temperamental, competitive, passionate, visionary architects that shifted how people viewed urban space.