Esoteric Survey

When thinking of Bordeaux, futuristic modern architecture probably isn't the first thing to come to mind. Similar to the slum clearance movement that was happening in the United Staes in the 1960s,  Bordeaux city leaders, under a plan by city architect Jean Royer (not that  Royer ), began creating a series of high rise residential and commercial buildings in the working class neighborhood of Mériadeck. Although some building happened in the early 1960s, substantial construction under a modified plan by Royer did not start until the 1970s. Allianz (Originally AGF) SCPA Arretche-Karasinki and Marcel Nouviale  (1983)  Joël Gourvellec and Victor Maldonado (1983) There is a network of pedestrian bridges over the streets connecting the buildings. This modernist scheme turned out to be a great way to effectively kill street vitality.  Compared to almost everywhere else I visited in Bordeaux, Mériadeck is dead. Le Ponant by Jacques Salier,...

The Cité Frugès housing complex (1924-1926) was designed by French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier.   French industrialist Henry Frugès commissioned Le Corbusier to design 135 housing units  for  workers in his sugar factory in Pessac, outside Bordeaux. The goal was for the cost to be such that an average worker could afford to purchase a unit with one year's salary. The minimalist architecture, which was extremely different than what people were used to at the time, did not appeal to the workers and  only 51 units were actually built. It was still the first large-scale residential development by Le Corbusier.   Seven prototypes were designed for the project. The units are individually-owned. Some have been restored and as we cane see here, some have not. The town of Pessac, where the development is located, purchased this " skyscraper"  unit and it operates as a museum. The docent who showed us around was so...