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INP Gymnasium complex
Taking architecture “further than a mere building” is how architect Marc Laurens, from Toulouse-based practice Laurens & Loustau Architects, describes the recently completed INP gymnasium complex at the new Toulouse-Labège university campus in southwest France.
Architect Marc Laurens, Pierre Loustau Location Toulouse - France Company involved ArcelorMittal Website http://www.arcelormittal.com/construction -
Centre Pompidou-Metz
As the first regional offshoot of France’s biggest modern art space and a national cultural institution, the new Centre Pompidou-Metz is already helping to boost the economy of a struggling region. It has already become, according to several reports, France’s most visited cultural venue outside Paris.
Images courtesy of Centre Pompidou Metz - Photos by Didier Boy de la Tour
Architect Shigeru Ban - Jean de Gastines Location Metz - France Company involved 3A Composites (ALUCOBOND®) Website http://www.alucobond.com -
Two Housing Blocks
The housing designed by Dubosc & Associes in Montargis, France, is certainly uncompromising. Clad entirely in metal, it eschews any of the conventional domestic touches but it does so in a manner that is refreshing and bright. The only punctuation to the neutral metallic colour comes from the front doors in a cheerful red, with large painted numbers, and sensibly generous vision panels. There is no chance here of forgetting where you live, and the sloping external staircases are both inviting and, argues Eric Dubosc, important places of social interaction. ‘People never talk on internal staircases,’ he says. ‘Here they are out of doors, so they talk and their children play together.’
Architect Dubosc & Associes Location Montargis - France