Bofill. The French Years.
Norma| N° d'inventaire | 30067 |
| Format | 160 X 230 |
| Détails | 408 p., 400 ill., publisher's hardcover. |
| Publication | Paris, 2023 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782376660804 |
Recognized in Europe as an avant-garde designer since the 1970s, Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill was called to the French scene following the destruction of Baltard's Halles, in the center of the capital, in 1971. Invited to compete in 1974, the architect proposed a revival of the historical forms of Parisian urban planning. At the heart of a political rivalry, he was dismissed in October 1978, after more than three years of projects, by Jacques Chirac, the first elected mayor of Paris, who then declared himself "the chief architect of Les Halles." Bofill and the Taller de Arquitectura nevertheless played a leading role in the development of new towns in France, from 1972 to 1985, with projects as striking as they were controversial: Abraxas in Marne-la-Vallée, the Lac in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, and the Antigone district in the center of Montpellier.
A veritable logbook, lavishly illustrated, this book describes the close relationship between architecture and politics under the presidencies of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand, and constitutes a unique dossier on Les Halles, an emblematic construction site, covered by a confidentiality clause until the architect's death in 2022. Through the archives of the Taller and the accounts of witnesses of the time, including Jack Lang, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, Paul Chemetov, Roland Castro, Michèle Champenois and Antoine Grumbach, the author describes Bofill's prodigious rise to superstardom, as well as the importance of architecture, then at the center of public debate.
Recognized in Europe as an avant-garde designer since the 1970s, Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill was called to the French scene following the destruction of Baltard's Halles, in the center of the capital, in 1971. Invited to compete in 1974, the architect proposed a revival of the historical forms of Parisian urban planning. At the heart of a political rivalry, he was dismissed in October 1978, after more than three years of projects, by Jacques Chirac, the first elected mayor of Paris, who then declared himself "the chief architect of Les Halles." Bofill and the Taller de Arquitectura nevertheless played a leading role in the development of new towns in France, from 1972 to 1985, with projects as striking as they were controversial: Abraxas in Marne-la-Vallée, the Lac in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, and the Antigone district in the center of Montpellier.
A veritable logbook, lavishly illustrated, this book describes the close relationship between architecture and politics under the presidencies of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand, and constitutes a unique dossier on Les Halles, an emblematic construction site, covered by a confidentiality clause until the architect's death in 2022. Through the archives of the Taller and the accounts of witnesses of the time, including Jack Lang, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, Paul Chemetov, Roland Castro, Michèle Champenois and Antoine Grumbach, the author describes Bofill's prodigious rise to superstardom, as well as the importance of architecture, then at the center of public debate.