Dominique Perrault Architecture

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13 | 12 | 2016

Groundscapes part #1: Fictions

This week we start a series on “Groundscapes, other topographies”, recently published by editions HYX. Today, we focus on fictions, “these utopia that remain forever in the realm of the possible”.

On the function of fictions, pg. 17
“I believe in the power of fiction, in the semantic and provocative force of improbable images to challenge the icons of our cities, forcing us to rediscover the power that initially built them. The purpose of this fictional dimension is to bring to light what we do not see – or what have not yet seen. A work of fiction is made realistic through provocative collages that change contexts and displace the obvious. It evokes the possibility of radical interventions on sites that appear forever frozen by the concretions of history. These collages cannot be reduced to utopias, or visionary phantasmagorias, but rather they suggest unprecedented yet feasible interventions, inserted into the heart of our urban realities.”

On the Arc de Triomphe fiction, pg. 20
“When one is proposing an intervention on an object as iconic as the Arc de Triomphe, placing the focus on its commemorative purpose, revealing its foundation, and its place in the cityscape, it functions like a new façade. This new way of highlighting the monument gives it a new power, intensifies its emotional charge. It now seems even more deeply embedded in the earth, the entire layout of the rooms underground dedicated to ceremonies is revealed, and their evocative power amplified. The possible fiction of an Arc de Triomphe placed upon an esplanade of glass shows that emphasizing the ground in this way does not in the least diminish the feelings of intimacy, and remembrance it inspires, nor its symbolism. The building is no longer simply symmetrically placed on the four supporting columns of its arcades. The reflections forming on the glass esplanade multiply and divide the conventional image of the monument, radically changing its relationship with space, and therefore the perception of its topographical link with the city.”



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