an eyesore that enlarges a city (at least that's my opinion) (;

My French class of today inspired me to write the following post. I would like to introduce you to a very famous sight of Paris, France – the Pompidou Center.
 It is a com plex in the Beaubourg area of the 4^th arrondissement of Paris, so it’s situated on the right bank of the Seine. Due to its location it is also known locally as “Beaubourg”.

We have to thank one of the former French presidents for this building - George Pompidou. He hold presidency from 1969 to 1974 in France and is considered to be one of the two builders of Paris during the Fifth Republic (th e other one is Francois Mitterrand – another former president – by the way).
He wanted to create a cultural building that is completely dedicated to a modern and contemporary style. 

The Pompidou Center was opened only three years after his death, in 1977. The time required for construction amounted up to 6 years.

It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information, a vast public library, the Musée National d'Art Moderne where you can find one of the three largest modern art collections of the whole world, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research.

But what is really special about this building is its architecture.
It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the Italian architects Renzo Piano and Gianfranco Franchini and the British architect Richard Rogers. The whole project was awarded to this team in an architectural design competition whose results were announced in 1971. In fact, it was the first time in France that international architects were allowed to participate.
In general the building consists of 7 floors of which 2 are under the ground.
What’s really extraordinary is that all tubes for mechanical systems are installed on the outside of the building. So you can see different colored tubes on the outside.

• green pipes are plumbing
• blue ducts are for climate control
• electrical wires are encased in yellow
• and circulation elements and devices for safety are red

The aim was to create the opportunity to be able to place the inner walls wherever they wanted them to be. I really love this idea. Although the building might not be beautiful on the outside, it is a sign of cleverness for me. The architects were trying to create something different and modern. I consider them ambitious and I really enjoy the final result. All in all it’s clearly a well-thought concept.

In front of the museum there is the Place Georges Pompidou which is famous for the presence of street performers like mimes, jugglers and fire-eaters. It’s a lively place but not hectic at all. When I was standing right in front of the building I got the impression that all these street performers were representing the energetic and progressive atmosphere of the Pompidou Center. It became one of my favorite places in Paris and maybe in the world.