The image of Haussmann’s Paris has become a model. A model copied by other cities. Yet this heritage has incapacitated Paris to change or evolve. Pa¬ris is frozen in time and its facade contains a necropolis. The commission of the Grand Paris in 2009 concluded that Paris could not become a competitive metropolis without its urban agglomeration. This thesis challenges this conclusion by arguing for the potential of the Haussmannian block, which is hidden behind its facade, and the transformation of Paris itself into a metropolis. By rethinking ideas of norm and exception, and by rethinking the Haussmannian block as a slab the project questions the Haussmannian regularization through block parcellation and creation of voids. In other words the project questions the economic model proposed by Haussmann for the capita¬list bourgeoisie, a model, which is today outmoded due to its incapacity to address contemporary society and the current economic model of the knowledge economy.
