Paris, Les arenes de Picasso

The French are (in)famous for their social housing, the architectural experimentation and research that goes into it and, last but not least, the ghettos resulting from many of these experiments.

The Arenes de Picasso by architect Manolo Nunez-Yanowsky and the Palais d’Abraxas by Ricardo Bofill, which film buffs will recognise as the setting for Terry Gilliam’sBrazil, take that experimentation into a very strange realm. A territory were intimidation and power seem to leave little room for the human factor, that’s the aura I get from these photos anyway. If you’ve been there, feel free to give your impressions in the comments.