“Effectively, Paris had a metaphor that stuck – The City of Light (la Ville Lumière). The metaphor contained double resonance, as light can be both lumens and intellect. ”
of Haussmann, by creating a dialogue with the city through its lightness of the façade, its ambiguity of the inside and outside, and through its connection to the pedestrians of the city.
Bibliography Hall, T. (1997). Planning Europe’s Capital Cities : Aspects of Nineteenth Century Urban Development. London, GBR: Spon Press. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com Jordan, D. (2015). Paris: Haussmann and after. Journal of Urban History, 41(3), 541-549. doi:10.1177/0096144215571567 Kirkland, S. (2013). Paris reborn: Napoléon III, baron haussmann, and the quest to build a modern city (Firstition. ed.) St. Martin’s Press. Morgan, C. L., & Nouvel, J. (1998). Jean nouvel: The elements of architecture Universe Pub. Walker, N. R. (2014). Lost in the city of light: Dystopia and utopia in the wake of haussmann’s paris. Utopian Studies, 25(1), 23-51. doi:10.5325/utopianstudies.25.1.0023 Saalman, H. (1971). Haussmann: Paris transformed G. Braziller.
Figure 4 The overview of Fondation Cartier pour I’Art Contemporain; the building combines the notion of high-technology architecture with Haussmann’s historical urban strategies.
of its characteristics. The streets, squares and parks of the city form part of its image – it is difficult to imagine the city without its boulevards. The character of the city is defined not only by the landscape but also by the buildings that face them and the activities they generate. In the neighbourhood of Montparnasse, the Fondation Cartier pour I’Art Contemporain quite effectively evokes a strong sense of intellectual beauty through its connection between its architecture and the urban planning.
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Haussmann’s Paris became a source of inspiration, influencing developments in many other cities. As the heir to Rome, to create a modern version of the metropolis of the ancient world was Haussmann’s ambition. Effec-
tively, Paris has a metaphor that stuck – The City of Light (la Ville Lumière). The metaphor contained double resonance, as light can be both lumens and intellect. As the technology of building with iron and glass was already available and much practiced by the 1850’s, the “scientific, technological, economic, and industrial pieces were all in place for the transformation of Paris” (544, Walker). In such regards, the Fondation Cartier pour I’Art Contemporain creates an intellectual connection between its architecture and the urban history of Paris – through its combination of high-technology architecture with urban planning of the city by effectively reflecting upon the historical urban planning
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