{"id":2297,"date":"2015-06-03T17:34:08","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T07:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/?p=2297"},"modified":"2015-07-11T18:52:09","modified_gmt":"2015-07-11T08:52:09","slug":"day-8-paris-practice-and-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/day-8-paris-practice-and-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 8: Paris practice (and parks)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday’s architectural tour of the outskirts of Paris left us with\u00a0many questions about the mode of architectural practice in this city. First we enjoyed a long breakfast-cum-brunch at the opulent\u00a0hotel buffet to prepare for a day of practice visits. We hoped to\u00a0find answers. How did the 1980s building boom get so crazy? How does\u00a0social housing really work in Paris? How does carrying a baguette\u00a0make you look so damn<\/em> cool?<\/p>\n

\"AS.Architecture-Studio<\/a><\/p>\n

Our first stop was AS.Architecture-Studio. All our questions melted away\u00a0as we were seduced by the stunning renovation to the rear garden of a\u00a0Parisian mansion. Behind a docile Haussmann elevation, an indoor tree\u00a0sprouts from white marble floors, climbing up the traditional white\u00a0timber framing, amongst staff sitting all around on three floors of\u00a0mezzanine, to the glass roof above. Deeper into the office and across\u00a0a courtyard we find a modern extension to the office, matching with\u00a0tree, glass roof and mezzanine, differing through the use of steel and\u00a0vinyl instead of timber. Deeper still and we are toured through the\u00a0practice’s extensive history, displayed in model format in a brick\u00a0vaulted basement. The stunning offices beside, the work of this\u00a0international practice inspired questions of Paris’s historic values,\u00a0over that of a blank canvas like China. Does a practice need to just\u00a0divert its workflow towards foreign projects in order to get the\u00a0freedom to design their ideal buildings? We left with no doubt of the\u00a0quality and innovation of this practice and admired their ability to\u00a0retain these values at the largest scale of architecture.<\/p>\n

\"2015<\/p>\n

Upon departing AS.Architecture-Studio we treated ourselves to a short\u00a0walk around the historic Marais district. Our first discovery,\u00a0although not confirmed, seemed to be a perfect candidate for the role\u00a0of prequel to New York’s Highline park. This elevated Parisian garden\u00a0gave a new outlook on the surrounding buildings. The lushly gardened strip of\u00a0about 4.5 km was frequented by runners and locals, and was a great\u00a0insight into the city’s productive use of disused infrastructure. It\u00a0also provided an idealistic backdrop for some Instagram-worthy group\u00a0photos.<\/p>\n

\"Place<\/a><\/p>\n

Further into the Marais and we picnicked at the Place des Vosges. The\u00a0first planned square in Paris (and apparently Europe), the 140 m x 140 m\u00a0grand square was bustling with locals. With our three-course breakfast\u00a0still digesting, we tucked into some fresh baguettes.\u00a0Eating and relaxing all day \u2013\u00a0how very French! The Place des Vosges\u00a0was a refreshing change from modern and post modern architecture\u00a0overload. Built in 1612, it is a classic example of Royalist architecture, but still seems very relevant to the city, and to place\u00a0making. Hundreds of picnickers are testament to its urban success.<\/p>\n

Our second practice visit for the day was to the offices of Manuelle\u00a0Gautrand, where we were treated to a showing of her work, and an\u00a0engaging discussion spawned on by our fore-mentioned questions.\u00a0Manuelle told us about the 50s housing boom, the onslaught of “contemporary” tower and slab housing, and how it has forever jaded\u00a0the French public against any and all new or contemporary\u00a0architecture. She revealed the Parisian elite’s preference for inner\u00a0city historic housing, and as result the amount of architectural work\u00a0focussing on private dwellings is very limited. It also seems the
\nParis regulatory context is similar in intensity to the Australian\u00a0system but on speed. It was refreshing to hear of her dedication to\u00a0working with and around these social constraints and political\u00a0systems, embracing difficulties, only to make them into opportunities.<\/p>\n

\"Parc<\/a><\/p>\n

We departed and headed to Parc de la Villette, Bernard Tschumi’s\u00a01980s grid of follies and floating infrastructure projects that define\u00a0a precinct scale park and collection of public buildings. We sat and\u00a0had our third picnic session for the day. The pace of the study tour\u00a0had definitely changed to “croissant mode.” Set among the randomness\u00a0of this project, again the locals seemed to flock here for their\u00a0afternoon snacks, for exercise and a jukebox-fuelled park session.<\/p>\n

\"Centre<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u00a0left Parc de la Vilette\u00a0and travelled to the Pompidou Centre. A third park typology,\u00a0this urban square is also packed full of visitors, this time\u00a0accompanied by mimes, musicians and the various array of creatives\u00a0that inner city publicity promotes. Paris seems to run on and through\u00a0it’s parks, and so it was great to experience the contrast between old\u00a0and new, suburban and inner-urban. The tightly controlled and heritage influenced approach to contemporary architecture seems to encourage\u00a0extensive use of the provided public spaces. And now we know that\u00a0Parisians carrying baguettes are so cool because you know they are on\u00a0their way to relax and converse in a nearby park.<\/p>\n

#2015DuluxStudyTour<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Casey Bryant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday’s architectural tour of the outskirts of Paris left us with\u00a0many questions about the mode of architectural practice in this city. First we enjoyed a long breakfast-cum-brunch at the opulent\u00a0hotel buffet to prepare for a day of practice visits. We hoped to\u00a0find answers. How did the 1980s building boom get so crazy? How does\u00a0social housing … Continue reading Day 8: Paris practice (and parks)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2297"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2614,"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions\/2614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.architecture.com.au\/duluxstudytourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}