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3.

Textual Heresies
Le Corbusier. Palais des Congres-Strasbourg, 1962-64

1.

rtJllsie1; ,Hodel of the Palais des CUllgres-Stral>/)01wg, Fm?tcp, 19GJ-v.,.

One of Le COl'busier's earliest drawings of the Parthenon is a key to the


evolution of his architecture during a period spanning the two world wars
and leading to a critical inflection point with his project for the Palais
des Congres in Strasbourg. The drawing, probably done at the tune of
his Voyage d'Orient, shows the Parthenon in the left foreground, its col
umns and base providing a Cartesian fratnework for the drawing. But on
the right, in what seems to be an impossible view given the Parthenon's
distance from the sea, is the harbor of Athens with its shoreline and sur
rounding mountains. This drawing is an early manifestation of what was
to become an evolving obsession: the dialectical and tensioned interplay
of the figure with the Cartesian grid, which appears in his earliest Purist
paintings and continues throughout his career, evolving from a two-dimen
sional figures to three-dimensional figures.
While the concept of gridded Cartesian space is readily understandable
in the work ofLe Corbusier, the concept of the figural as different from any
free-form shape emerges in the context of post-structuralism. This idea is
based on Gilles Deleuze's discussion of the paintings of Francis Bacon. In
his 1981 book, Francis Bacon: Logique de la Sensation, Deleuze distin
guishes figuration from the figural. Figuration refers to a form related to
the object that it is meant to represent. Rather than defining a form, the
figural is that which is produced as a register of forces. Here,!o'1'ces is the
operative term. In the case of Bacon's portraits, the figure is distorted by
internal pressures while the paint of the canvas-scrubbed, smeared
addresses these forces in the very materiality of the painting. The figural
no longer expresses an iconic form or figure, but rather dOCUlnents the
encounter of matter-paint, canvas, painter, and sitter-and forces-both

/4

physical and psychological. As a regi>itcr of' such


force~, the human figur~ no longer presents it~elf'
as a discrete, clear I'm'm, but rather re~ides in
what can be called an wldecidable relationship
with the canvas; the outline of the whole figur
is blurred to become an assembly of partial fig
ures that neither cohere, nor strive to create
a clistinct and understandable form. This shift
from whole to what are being called partial fig
ures,which themselves m'e a physicall'esidue of'
forces acting on whole figures, cOlTesponds to a
shift in Le Corbusier's architecture from his pre
war interest in a dialectical interplay between
figure and gJ.id to, late in his career, an inter
nally generated critique that severs the prior
dialectic. Instead, a serie~ of figural conditions
are produced which have the quality of partial
figures, In his postwar work, I.e Corbusier also
challenges the precepts of his "Fi\e Points," in
which free plan, pilotis,fenelre en longueur, free

Palai~ cle~

C' ollgr(,:!'

facade, and rooftop terrace were characLeJ'istic


of his prewar work.
It could be argued thai Le Corbusier's earl
architecture repre~ent~ an attempt to transcend
the limits ofpainting, which he theorized in his book
Afte) f'ubism, Wl'iUen with Amedee Ozcnfant. If
cubist painting was marked by a ten1'ion between
the frontal pictw'e plane and spatial depth, Le
orbusier's architecture strained to both inCOl})O
rate and overcome the tenets of frontal and flat
tened cubist space in a three-dimensional matrix.
This integration of a three-dlrnensional, figured
quaHty began early in his career with his Pmist
period paintings and his 1914 Dom-ino diagTam.
In the Dom-ino diagram, Le COl'busier introduce
the Cmtesian gl'id as a structural system that
could produce an infinite horizontal extension 0
space. This diagJ.'am conceptualizes veli-ical cir
culation as a legible figure or what can be consid
ered a figured element, which is pulled out of the
stacked horizontal slabs. The Dom-ino diagram
31ticulates Le Corbusier's concern with integrat
ing a tlu'ee-dimensional figured element into a nec
essarily reticulated condition of architecture.
Le Corbusier's Dom-ino diagl-am prefigured
the "Five Points" articulated in his 1923 book Vel's
tine Al'clzitectu1'e. In the Dom-ino diagram, the
columns are set back from the facade to create a
free plan and a free facade: the fiat roof becomes
the pl"ivate space, and the floor slab 1::; lifted off
the ground to produce a horizontal continuum
f Rpace. The primitive foundation blocks in the
place of pilatis initiate a critique of architectme's
relationship to the ground: figure in architecture
had always been tied to the ground, so much RO
that it was defined as a figurc/gl'ound relation
ship. The idea of' the pilotis originally displace::;
architecture, lifting the building off the gJ.'olmd
literally and conceptually to initiate a more com
plex dynamic of figure and ground,
I.e Corbusier's early canonical buildings
Villa Savoye U) Poissy and Villa Stein at Garches-

Palais des congl'cs

If)

3. p(llais des Congres-Stmsbonm, model, 1962.

develop the diagl'am offered in his "Five Points,"


and introduce a more strongly figw'ed condi
tion in the circulation, The early sketches for
Villa Savoye document the mo\'ement in Rec
tion generated by the ramp, which takes up the
movement of the car as it enters underneath the
building and then engages the subject in a spiral
ing up through the building to the roof garden.
The ramp as a figured element creates and reg
isters a kind of vortex of centrifugal energy. This
entrifugal motion in the Cartesian space of the
building generates an energy from the center to
the periphery, Similarly exemplifying the "Five
Points," the Villa Stein emphasizes both figured
elements and the gJ.idded envelope of the villa's
stlucture, which retains a cubist or layered flat
ness resembling a vertically stacked deck of cards.
The facade at Garches presents the collapse of
the space of the plan into the vCltical plane of the
facade, which becomes an index of the collapse of

real space into a single moment in space and time.


Tins collapse of pcrspective also becomes a cri
ique of monocular perspecti\'al vision. The mol'
strongly figured elements ofGarches are the CUl'\'
ing free-form walls and the promenade al'chitec
tumle, which is inserted into the l'eal' facade as '
staircase, Figw'ed form also appears in two stair
cases and in the cutout of the balcony and eating
area, yet these figures remain more lU1ear Ulan
volumetric. In these early works, the figured cle
ments are implicated in a dialectical relationship
to the absb'act grid of Lhe buildings' plan, facades,
and sectioll.
The relation ofgl'id to figure in Le ('orhusier's
postwar work changes dramatically from the
gJ.id-dominant systems of his prewar building5.
The figured element becomes increasingly \'olu
metlic, indicating a shift in his attitudes toward
both abstraction and the ligure. In Runchamp,
the Philips Pavilion, and Chan<1igal'h, fully Lhl'ee

Palais des Congrb

iii

Patak de;; Congres

/,

I<

4. Vill(l SIII'()ye, PO;R'~l!, 1928.

5. Not,'e Dame d'U Haul, Ronchamp, 1950.

6.

dimensional fig1.Ue~ stand out against the grid, yet


the grid remains legible. 1"'01' example, while the
figure seems to dominaLe in the sculptured forms
of Ronchamp. the grid is present in the floor pat
terning, which is part of Le COl'busier's modular
system of proportiomi, and a virtual 01' impliecl
gl'id is legible from the building's f"outh elevation.
he square punctures in the facade register a ten
sion between an implied veltical grid and the slop
ing wall, as if the holes were tethers maintaining
the e:\.'terior wall's curve. The tension in the curve
comes from the implication that if these connec
tions were cut, the wall \"ould snap back into a
flat vertical plane. The notation of these openings
in the thickened figured wall plane indicates that
the curved wall is not a gratuitous curve, but
rather refiects an internal t.ension between th
figured surface and a virtual. griddecl plane.
If the prewar work demonstrate~ the linear
igw'e becoming increasingly three-dimensional, it
could be argued that Le COl'busier's postwar work
begins with the fully articulated ftgw'e, which is
increasingly deformed into a series of partial fi~
ores. In his Parliament Building at Chandigal'h. a
giant cylindrical element breaks through the roof,
becoming a dominant featw'e of the roofscape as
a fully three-dimensional figure. Yet this figure
is hidden behind the orthogonal blocks that form

each of Ule parliament's facades. Chandigarh also


marks an important departure from the planar,
free facade of Le COl'busier's "Five Points":
Chandigarh's deep tn-i.se-soleill'eplace thefenetre
en longueunvith a honeycombed mass; this motif
is repeated in Harvard's Carpenter Center, La
Tom'ette, and Strasbourg.
La Tourette can also be related to Strasbourg
by means of a rotational energy established by
the pinwheeling organization of its lower floors.
A geometrical figme is established in the form
f a blunted, three-sided pinwheel. Another kind
of rotation animates the facade of La Tom'ette,
according to Colin Rowe's analysis, yet this rota
tional energy retains the tension provided in the
fi'ontal plane. In the Carpenter Center this rOl.a
tional energy becomes increasingly explicit: the
paired lobed forms of its studios and exhibition
spaces seem to revolve around a central core,
which anchors its large S-shaped main ramp.
Despite the contradktory internal movements
at the Carpenter Center-its lobes spin counter
clockwise and the internal ramp rotates clock:wi~e
up to the third floor-it could be argued that each
component is mticulated as a separate figure: the
S-shaped main ramp, the lobed studio and exhi
bition spaces, and central square fo}'m are COlD
pressed together, yet they remain identifiable as

complete and separate parts. Similarly, a number


of the precepts of Le COl'busier's "Five Points"
remain apparent with elongated pilotis, the free
plan, rooftop terraces, and briBe-sole-il occupying
the horizontal openings formerly allocated to the
fenetre en longu.euf.
The centrality of the ''Five Points" in Le
COl'busier's prewar work suggests that the points
served as a foundational diagram from which
each building draws, but inflects differently.
This indicates the capacity of the ''Five Points"
to serve as a text for his early buildings, in the
sense that a diagram is an architectural form of
a text. If the idea of a text is established in Le
Corbusier's ''Five Points," it is his inversion of
the "Five Points" and his turn away from the
legible figure toward partial figures that sug
gest that Strasbourg can be read as heretical to
his prior architectlU'al t.exts. There are a mm1ber
of didactic deviations from the "Five Points" in
Le Corbusier's postwar work; the bl'iBe-soleil
replacing the free facade is only one example. Yet
Le COl'busier's Palai~ de~ Congrs-StrasbouTg
becomes the summation of an evolution in a
textual language, on the one hand in its didactic
refutation of each of the "Five Points," and on
the other in its movement away from a dialecti
cal relationship between figure and grid. If the

As,~embly

Hall, Clw.lIdignrh.195.j-6b

7. PaLais des Cougl'es-Strltsbolll'g, l>'1te plan, 196w.

text of the figure/grid relationship is scripted in


Le Uorbusier's prewar work, the postwar work
deYelops the idea of the figure, from a whole and
discrete element into one whose vel-Y wholeness
is questioned. 'The figure becomes deformed into
a series of partial figwes. As an heretical te};.i;,
the Palalli des Congl'es engages both a dialecti
cal system refuting the "Five Points" and a non
dialectical system pursuing the evolution of the
figure from a discrete tltree-dimensional entity to
a dispersed series of figural elements whose con
tours become increasingly undecidable.
With the Palais cles Cong1's, a project beg-un
in 1962, only a year after the Carpenter Center,
many of the relationships established in La
Tourette and the Carpenter Center are inverted.
First, the relationship of building to gl'ound is
profoundly different at Strasbow'g. No longer d
pilotis preserve the horizontal flow of the ground
below the building. Instead, the gl'o1.lJ1d plane
becomes a honeycombed plinthlike ba.."e. whose
very solidity is fmther questioned as the gr01.111
is cut away in such a mam1er to suggest that
the base is floating. The sloping ground around
Strasbourg's base creates a double reading of
both plinth and pilotis. Similarly, the precepts of
free plan and free facade are inverted. Just as the
brise-soleil counters the planar facade with depth,

71'

Palms des Congl'e"

~a]ab

des Congrb

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--

~._-.-

--'=- :;. -..----=--=..=--;.::.

~~

H.

Jlct/ais de.~ Crmf/res-SII'Us/)o//I'O, spr-l;rllLllO,.t/t-scmth. 196f2.

shadow, and thidmesi', so lOU doe!'\ the free plan


become 8uh~umed by a geometrical figure resem
bling the pinwheel ol'ganization of La Tourette in
Strasbomg's ground level. Finally, the horizontal
surface of the roof garden becomes a figural plane,
which is tipped, l wi~ted, and torqued.
If circulat ion had previously registered
both a ccntlifl.lgal fOl'ce and a distinct figural ele
ment in Le Corbusier's ecu'lier work, the ramp at
Strasbourg registers both centripetal and centrif
ugal force" ~imtl1laneously, as well as a critique of
the legible whole figurE', Tbe figure of the ramp
is the most significant index for the development
of the 8tl'asbom'g scheme. A study of the carliest
St.l'asboul'g schemes of 1962 reveals that the l'amp
was initiall~' envisioned as a distinct figure form
ing an unbroken loop through the building. The
first, 19G2 scheme is an articulated gquare in plan
with a giant straight ramp entering the square
form from the ~outheast corner and a pair of'
lobed ramps protruding frOll! the 11001:h and souU,
sides of the l'quare in an echo of the Carpentel'
'enter. The giant ramp leadf: up to the :;econtl
floor, where it divides to form paired ramps on the
north side, which reach up around the third floor
and lead onto the rooI. The ramp forms a complete
entity around the building, and in the l'iecond-floor
plan is highlighled as an independent figure, a'i is
the pinwheel figure of the floor below. In a sub

sequent plan, the giant ramp is rotated ninety


degrees and positioned to align axially with the
giant lobed ramp on the north sidc, replacing the
small southern lobed ramp of the initial plan. In
this second scheme, reproduced in Le COl'busier's
Oem.tres Compfete, the bi-lobed organization of
the Carpenter Center has been edited, signal
ing Le Corbusier's departm'e from whole figures
and movement toward the paltial figure. This
becomes apparent in the final scheme of the Palais
des Cong1'es, where the yelJ' figure of the ramp
seems to shift its weight to the west in counter
point to the dominant axiality of the giant ramp
extending south. More significantly, the ramp's
figm'E' i:=; no longer whole; the figure of the ramp
seems to split in several places, no longer looping
through the building but rather spiraling around
the stmctw'e. The ramp can be conceived of as a
series of partial figures which no longer cohere
like the independent ramp of the eaJ'ly scheme.
Thus, Strasbourg's final scheme is animated by a
'ondition of complex partial figures.
The figw'e assumes a different role at
Stl'asbourg in tJ1ut it is no longer defmed in rela
bon"hip to the grid. Strasboul'g is signif1callt in
Le COl'busier's oeuvre as a depmture from the
grid/figure dialectic. This depalture appears in
two different conditions: as a partial figure and
as an undecidable condition of the ramo: is it

.,. Palrt;5; del'- Congl'es-Stralibourg,

uieu' of ealil eleuutiol/. 1962.

centripetal or centrifu~al? While the figural is


often seen as a system of movement-and this is
no less truE' in Strasbourg-the project invokes
both centrifugal and centripetal forces, which
first move outward through the Cartesian enclo
sure of the building and then tm'n back, spil'aling
inward. The subject becomes involved not only in
the figural ramp but also in the breaching of the
container, the pJ'ism pOx of Cartesian space that
was articulated in the "Foul' Compositions" by Le
orbusier. Unlike the rotation on the entry facade
of La Tourette, which, in Rowe's analysis, retains
the tension of a frontal plane, the rotation devel
ped at Strasbourg is no longer dialectical with
respect to any frontal plane, but rather register!'!
simultaneously as centl'ipetal and centrifugal in
plan and section.
In thi~ respect, Le COl'busier's project for
Strasbourg marks an important movement near
the end of his postwar career. Stl'asbourg is also
an anomaly in t.his book, for it is not a hinge build
ing within the particular career of an architect
but rather a hinge between Le COl'busier and the
architects that draw on his legacy. In exploring
the figural at Strasbourg, Le Corbusier blurs the
large figures of the ramp by dispersing them as
paltial figures at the upper :floors. Similarly, the
didactic natlU'e of the "Five Points" and the didac
tic development of the figme against a CaItesian

g1id become increasingly blurred as Le COl'busiel'


explores the potential of these pmtial figtu'es at
Strasbotll'g.
This building offers a missing link bet.ween
the formal strategies of the high modernist "Five
Points" and those apparent in Rem Koolhaas's
n'es Grande Bibl:iotheque and Jussieu Libraries.
StrasbolU'g is the forerunner of both Koolhaas
projects, in that the object is no longer merely
contained in t.he volumetric endosure but rather
a sel;es of forces push the object out through the
exterior cnclosm'e of the object, while the move
ment of the subject continues to circumscribe
the volume. The discontinuity between succes
sivc hOl;zontal plan levels at Strasbourg will
ultimately appeal' in Koolhaas's Delirious New
Yo,.k and his French library projects. Lastly,
Strasbourg shifts the idea of understanding from
seeing to the expelience of movement.
The Palais des Congres-Strasbourg estab
lishes an internal clitique of what could be
onsidered the prewar "texts" embodied in Le
COl'busier's "Five Points," Finally, in the evol\T
ing changes in the acts of close reading, legacies
of the formal and the conceptual remain. What
becomes visible ill the Strasbourg project as a
pivotal development of Le Corbusier's thought is
the new figural condition of the subject's experi
ence of the object. This Vlrilliead for example to a

~(j

Pa]ai~

def' Conl!"l'es

Palai" rle>'

different necessity of close reading in Koolhaas's


J ussieu Libraries, Strasbourg, unlike La Tourette
and Chandig-arh, pl'Oposed an entire other series
of pl'oblematics not addressed in either phase of
Le COl'busier's previous work. In these inver
sions of many Corbusian tropes begin an internal
critique that marks this particular work as differ
ent w hen compared to the prior buildings of Le
Gorbw:;ier's architectlll'e.

Congl'e~

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10. Pa.lais des C'ongres, plan level 2.

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lJ. Palo is de::; COl/rrres. 7)[all leoe! .J.

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14 ((lj). Palais des COrLr!rcs, groltlld- (lI/(I,find-jloor'


I'p/s. The fo'stfloGI' level (a) is depl'e.~sed into the
,ground (b), doubled (c), voilied (d), and ro IIIfJrd 1/[i to
tlie new uraund level (e), which br'comes the bwse for
the pilotis (0, The 1'e/)el'8(11 of Le Co,.b?(,~iel-:~ "Fllie
?illt.~" at Strasbourg begins with tile piloti,,:, 7'Ii

,~

'a/ais deN COt/gres can be read as a doable sOl/dwic'/i


containing two piloti !cwe/s stacked one on top of the
otllel: The gvol/lld wn no lOJ/ger be identified as S1lCh,
,,"or Ille luwer pi/ntis levellla.~ been !J1t.<:hed dO({'rl $0 that
f/ie second lel'eZ (~fpitotif; is at gromullcoel.

/I f.
1." Pala1:s des Congres, first-floor levels. The

fenetre
en longueur oj'Le CO/'busier's "Fl:ue P()int.~" becomes
a lwlleycombed briRe-soleil. a ,,'gular sy.~teJl1, oj'
openings thal1l'raps aronnd three I<ides of the Palais
des Conglas.

16. The brise-soleil anpeaJ'S a.~ ,tJOid8 cut fro ill

(I

solid.

Palais des

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COlIgr~S

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Palais des Congres

pil

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17.

Palai~

des Co 1I{JI'iJ.s, second jioo/: Till' plllll of tile

,~ecI)l/d.ffo()r can be

divided into/OIlr Quadrants, wltieh.

because of the ramp that goes up to the piano nobile


enter.~ into tills lowrr lel'el, ol'e
organized ax pillwlleelillgfo.,.m.~.

and the mmp that

pinwheeling motion is
n>,peated on Qnothel', snwllel' scale: a clusler I!( moms

18. 011 the :;econd floor, this

rotates witl/hl each quadrant, creating a


spillllin{J inlerllal to coth of tile. (11((Jdl'(mt,~.

,~ecollda,.y

19. Palai:; dp.~ r'v1/gres.j(mnll fiool: The fO/lrl1l floor is


I()o.~ely organized illto blockl>, ("IWltillg two 1l,.,I/S of fl
pin 1/111 eel which mtctte a,'omlcl a eel/tel' void.

O. The double-height uoid,~ in IIleloll rill Qlldfifthfloors


a rotatiol/al a.l'isfo/ the pi1PLlleel, who.~e ((miS
w'e tile hlocksflll'111ed by the main lwditol"iu1II spaces.
lSe,1.Ie ClS

alai.8 des CongJ'es

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Palais des Congl'P-i'

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!l. Pnlais des Crmgr'f1S, ,~er;olld flool: The a nulysi8 of


the second}ioor colnmn ,grid begil/s to ','aeal tliat at
Strasbourg, the Corbusian free plan 1'1$ .~IlI~iecledto
pi ay o.f'strategic om i~sions. indicated by the h if/hi iyhl ed

red col limns,

U, These absences describe spa.ces that pUlIctuJ1te this


ullerall !friel, Por I<xample, the void 'ill the seCfmd~floor

('ut'/alm grid serves (..~ iu; rotational Mis.

23. l'otais des Congl'iJs, third floor, On the third floor


nly ol1e colu mil iB p,lin?'i nated, rpplaced by a 1itair
CMe. The missing cohwl.II fm'rm; It strl/cture q(arrested
rotatioll. The disposition of figure.~ 0'11 tile third floor
dltmonst.rates the 711ay between. what appears to be
whole nowres Gild 'M./'tialjigl

24. 01/ the thinl j/.OOI; a continuO'l.i~ s(~ries of col limns


fram(3j; the building (m three .side~, !Iet Oil tlli! interior
of the building, the columns are 81:Zfri cliffe/'e;ltly. TIle
larger columns divide the sql1are pluu illto a thlw:-bay
,~chema with an ABE arrangement ofthe,~e il11le,' I'OW.~.

AA

Paluis ric!> Cong1'e:;

Palais des (' ongre:s

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~~---

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J5. Palais des COllyres,foltTlltjlo01: A second, subtler


I/olotiou of the rolwnns occurs 08 they arc Mpa1'ated
iI/to dommant rows. The perimeter co/millis are se
back.tiom the sides butjfush.lo whot would be tl1I' rea,.
of the buildl1lg. Entire bays of co[nTr/l/f; are I'emoved
(red).

2(i. 0/1 tile fourth .lloor. the ,'emoool of wlllmn bays

27. Palais des Congres,.lijth.lloOl: The central branch

also slriates t!le plan i7lto (/ serie:; of linear elements


t1wl, as they break daul1I and are inieJT1.I pted, allow
the vOI'iolls grids to become figural elements. Thi,~

of Ow mmp connect!; to thefift.h level. While thefigured


fonn n.ftlle ramp is clearly (Ji.~ce""liblp ill. the thirdfioo
alld roof [('vel, the shape of tire 1'(Unp 011 the fifth flom'

maintain.~ a continuitll of column.~

II/u:face while lhe inner rows diuide


ba,lJ, and another B bay.

OJ/

tlte Oil/boor,

into 1111 A buy, u B

18 no longer clear. Again there an! a IIclie.~ (~r ]Jtl/"lial


figures on the jijlh ]ioor which lIape w/'res/lfmdcmres
with thejigumlform>; 011 the third and fourth flooi's.

!l(1

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Palai~
_
de;; Congores

P<llail'

de~

Cungres

_ _

_ __

!J1

/
/

"

,/
/

';:-

"-,

/'

"

,/

"
/

~~'''''
~
~

J
/

",

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28.

Pnl()..i.~

lies Congres, "oof level. The

'~Jlil'ahllg

fon'cs

traced in eCLch leL'(jl echo the 11I0VeliWI1t ql'thc Tn mp. The


warped sll/face of the 'roof levtll'eflf3ct:; this spil'alin.a
mm'ement.

//

"

//

L9. The roof volume is warped into a 'rhombuid Ilhape


and distorts tile horizontal datt/11I,

31, The geometry of the ,'ooF<I rlwml>oid shape seemlS


pinned 111/ a shlgle poi Ilt, echoing the ma 11111$1' 'ill wll ic!l a
.~ingfe 7m~~si'rlg collLmnfo/'ms the j'lI/C!'t/ mft)) ~/JI:/'(/Iing
olJement ill lhe secolld. third aJldfrml'th .tl()ol',~,

n~

__

.alais des Congres

I.

c.

d.

Palais des C'onwes

itl

i.

j.

k.

I.

F\"""~.

"

E
(

e.

---~-",=r- =bh~k_"--'--~J-'

r-

"

,I

.=-.
i?

m.

n.

r-

g.

h.

O.

p.

JJ (a-p). Palais des COl/gri's, xecti(m~ and elemtiul/S.


Tile buiLding .~ecli(ms and facade .fin'ther I'el'eal til
w:mbled or "sandwlched" ur.qanizatioll oftlte P(Jlai.~ des

:Ollgres (a~f). The /.'oided plillth alld the depressioll (~f


tI/e gt'Olu/d at lite I)((8e of the building is also apporent

The Iwilding i.~ cut intenmlly, rreatillg differellt sec


tiollal collrlitio'rl,~. The bllilding sectim/x /'pveal /Illlitipll)

The gl'01tl1d iR ne-I'M' Ie-vel: ii, ill C/il away liS a sll1:fac:e
01/(1 ,.i~e8 up inlo the bllildillg uritlilhe ramp (m-p),

(e-//.)

/'(!11icnllJOirk (i-I),

91

Palais des Congrb

Palais des Congres

l!,}

"

"
/

"".

~/

'.'-,

"

//

/'

"'.

,/

'(:f'

Congres, fourth J1o()J~ ramp an


second .floor. The ramp links the dijrel-i1l.g llil!ll'heel
rg(l1/'izafiol/.'1 of each level.

JJ. Pala;s d.es

.ii. Palais des Congl'es. The I'Omp joins the ot'OlI'nd mal
'oof hi a contin Wlnl.

/
""'--_/

/'

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~

5'"'

...c,

l"

..0
c
s
g

;::;

'"

..,'"...
~

'"

c
V

.~

'"tl

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;...

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;:::"1::!

'-'

-:::

e.s

0:
;.. "t

:r.

'~
u

-,

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'..v

./

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