Today is the last day to visit the Centre Pompidou before it closes for five years for renovations. Designed in the 70’s by two young unknown architects, the Italian RENZO PIANO and the British RICHARD ROGERS it was officially opened on 31 january 1977.
And it was a shock! “Paris has its own monster, just like the one in Loch Ness” said the French magazine Le Figaro, “Notre Dame des Tuyaux“, “Centre Mochebourg“, “Oil refinery” were some of the nick-names but at the end it was a popular success with more than 200 million visitors since 1977.
And it was a shock even for me the first time I visited Paris.
It was at night, the Piazza was deserted and I saw an alien spaceship landed in the heart of the city, was I living in a sci-fi movie?
Today I still love this radical and futuristic architecture, I love the lightness, the transparency, the see-through, I find it so elegant and so sexy!
Inside I love the bright, open and wide spaces, the feeling of being inside the building but at the same time, still inside the city and I love spending hours in the bookstore looking for a new book.
Outside I love all these tubes and pipes, I love the bold colours used as symbol, blue for air-conditioning, yellow for electricity, green for water and red for pedestrian circulation.
I love the periscope-like giant air vents of an imaginary transatlantic space liner, I love the red zigzag and I love the unique view of Paris from the 5th floor.
I am sure, next time I will be in Paris, I will miss you!
Photo: Antonello Tabarelli de Fatis
