10 Diapason Rebuild Unbuilt Tête Défense Never Built Paris Exhibition, Spring 2019 Individual Work Exhibition Design, Model Making, Coorperation on Curation Since the 1930’s Paris had tried to activate La Défense, the business district on its western outskirts, where a jumble of mediocre high-rises later emerged, unrestricted in appearance or location. In 1970, I.M. Pei proposed the Diapason, or “tuning fork” at Tête Défense, the gateway to the area, aligned with the city’s historic Grand Axis. The pair of sixtystory concrete office towers were intended to dominate the surrounding chaos. Pei, attempting to preserve the vista through the Grand Axis, sketched a perfectly symmetrical megastructure knit together by a radically inverted glass arch. Killed by the oil crisis of 1973, Pei’s unique concept has deeply influenced subsequent proposals for La Défense, where the tuning fork’s site has been replaced by another carved out structure: The Grande Arche. TETE DEFENSE CNIT
PALAIS DES CONGRES L'ARC DE TRIOMPHE LE ROND POINT LA PLACE DE LA CONCORDE LE LOUVRE
To represent the project, I made the project model in modern style using grey mat board with brushed wet gesso to make the texture and acrylic sheet.
What needs to be more emphasized is the relationship between Diapason and its context - symmetry and domination. Therefore a bended perspective as the continuous view of the Grand Axis is put behind, with the surrounding high-rises that are "doinated" collaged.
Intro of the Exhibition