Somehow, suburbs became my passion. Maybe because I live most of my life there. Or because it have always been a zone of urbanistic experiments,lost dream, a scifi like mixture of human technology vs last drops of nature. Anyway, while I attended french language classes I came over a couple of amazing books in the library about architecture in France in 1970-80.
In 1970s, a new plans for urbanisation were set up in Paris. A group of young architects took a chance to react to Modernist principles and characterized the design of new housing developments by a return to classical forms of architecture and ornamentation. The name Ricardo Bofill was mentioned under unorthodox, decorative constructions called L’espaces de l’abraxas. I felt I’ve seen those building already. Yes, it was the dystopian city in Terry Gilliam’s film Brasil.
Brazil, 1985
The whole feel of the place is slightly depressive. No wonder that it was Gilliam’s choice. Huge dark masses of concrete with retro-futuristic facade of an autoritative state. On the other hand, honestly, wouldn’t you love to live there if your favorite film is Blade Runner? I have to admit that this kind of neo-classicism gives a bit of credibility to the whole site. A strange feeling, that the building was made right and stands here for centuries. Although you have the impression that the architect went crazy and nobody told him to stop…
Luckily, I don’t have this problem and I stop my writing right now. You should read nice article about scifi in parisian suburbs at untapped cities which also took me to this place
Imagine yourself, sitting here on a plastic chair, sipping beer from aluminium can and watching movie on broken glass display of an iPad.