If you think the Montparnase Tower is bad, check this out: The only nice thing I can say, at least it's not near anything I love.

http://tinyurl.com/ykw7fd

I don't think it's that bad, and that's a new modern building area, anyway, so it fits in with that. Maybe it will look better in person. I do think the Montparnasse tower is ugly because it just has no style at all, just a tall tower with no architectural interest. I don't agree with the NYT critique though, as the one they say is banal and dull (the one is Russia) looks kind of cool to me, and much more attractive than the Phare Tower. I can't figure out what that stuff is on top of the Phare Tower, but I'll be honest--it is too phallic looking for me, I can't believe they are serious. Or maybe some kind of whale or dolphin thing going on, I just don't get that shape.

Maybe there is something the author could see better in the drawings than as it appears in the paper, but I think the Russian one is a lot better than the Paris one. The article talks about a lot of stuff that isn't obvious from the drawing, so maybe it will look great (the Phare Tower).

A lot of people hated the IM Pei pyramind at the Louvre just because it was modern, also, but now a lot of people think it fits very well.

La Défense is not in Paris. It's the "Manhattan suburb" which, in my opinion, is a great idea -- to allow modern developments in their own ghetto.

>A lot of people hated the IM Pei pyramind at the Louvre just because it was modern, also, but now a lot of people think it fits very well.<

Only because they've gotten used to it.

Human beings are very adaptable; they can put up with almost anything.

However, since I never go to La Defense
I don't care what they build out there.

>> La Défense is not in Paris. <<

Totally off-topic, but this narrow idea of Paris - ie restricting it to the actual City of Paris (and Département) - is a real curse on urban planning and more generally urban problems in the Greater Paris area.

Hopefully, no other metropolis of this size has such a stupid barrier between the core and its surroundings.

There's a very interesting sentence by Haussmann about it, I'll try to translate it.

>Hopefully, no other metropolis of this size has such a stupid barrier between the core and its surroundings.<

As opposed to most US cities where the core is almost entirely office buildings and deserted from about 19:00 to 06:00?

>> As opposed to most US cities where the core is almost entirely office buildings and deserted from about 19:00 to 06:00? <<

The aforementioned "barrier" was to be understood as an administrative (and mental, dare I say) barrier, with different, and often deaf, authorities on each side. It is, in the case of Paris, a consequence of history. Such a barrier is not found in either London or Moscow, and you will note - since you feel the need to pinpoint US cities to my attention - that you won't find it either in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or Houston.

I know, don't worry, that there are boroughs in New York, and counties, and whatever other administrative divisions. But none as strong as this absurd "Paris"/"Banlieue" one. By the way, the very etymology of the "Banlieue" word is interesting.

Uh-oh, superheterodyne is about to go on a rant. Let's see what the rest of it is.

>> Uh-oh, superheterodyne is about to go on a rant. Let's see what the rest of it is. <<


It's nothing like a rant, and everything like discussing ideas, but if you please, consider it is as such, lean back and enjoy.

Our little personae are absolutely unimportant here, so don't take it personnally.

Well...i applaud Paris' willingness in recent decades, starting in large scale with Mitterands Grandes Projects i believe, in not standing still and inviting modern architecture inside it and not relegated to the suburbs as in many european towns. Pompidou, la Villette, Monde Arabe, TGB (Tres Grande Bibilioteque), Bercy, Louvre Pyramid - even the abomination at Les Halles - this is not a Venetian or Roman or Florentine-style museum city but a vibrant one embracing the modern world.

I actually like La Defense and have gone there several times - great view of Paris from the Grande Arche de la Defense, which is aligned exactly with the Arc de Triomphe and Louvre axis.

Luckily, "the abomination at Les Halles" is going to be torn down in about 2 years and replaced (hopefully) with something better.

I suppose it will fit in the area, and some La Defense towers are interesting
The EDF tower
http://www.pcf-p.com/a/p/9601/s.html
The Societe Generale
http://fr.structurae.de/photos/index.cfm?JS=2511
The AXA tower (now looking like this http://fr.structurae.de/photos/index.cfm?JS=2992, same generation than Montparnasse) will be renovated and – in 2008 - will look like this
http://www.defense-92.fr/photos/axarendu1.jpg
http://www.defense-92.fr/photos/axarendu2.jpg

And the strange things on the top of the towers are … windmills (all the renovated or new buildings have to be environmental friendly : solar pannels on the windows and windmills to produce (a part of) their electricity)