Tours Aillaud, Paris, built in 1976, designed by Architect Émile Aillaud.
“Without respect for the body as it is, social memory as it stands, there is no such thing as a workable or humane architecture. And that’s why a place like this – La Defence outside Paris, is experienced by everybody, including those who live in it, as a piece of social scar tissue, gimmicky, condescending alphaville modernism. Stick ‘em in concrete boxes and give them some concrete to play on, and then paint it all bright colours because that’s what the kiddies like, and if the kiddies don’t like it, they can write to the minister!”
Robert Hughes, art critic 1980.
[Found here.]
Our European offices were near La Defense and I spent many days / weeks in hotels there. One weekend I decided to walk down to the brightly coloured blocks to see what it looked like from nearby. That was not a wise move. Let’s just say that the butchers weren’t selling bacon
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Surprising and not surprising. How recent was you visit?
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That would have been late nineties early two thousands. The company moved a little bit away from La Defense in around 2007 so we didn’t get to stay there that often
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The buildings look like shotgun heat shields.
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