In 1900, Paris hosted its first Olympic games. It had been the second city to host them after the first Olympics in Athens. It was also the year of the Exposition Universelle, where the city would again showcase how it remade itself anew in less than 30 years. To this day, Paris remains a hub for all sorts of architectural innovation and development through bold designs that affect how people live and new materials and techniques. It fascinatingly juxtaposes grandeur and monumentalism with its predominately baroque, “second empire,” and art nouveau works; while also pushing for designs that strive for social living reforms such as in Le Corbusier’s experimental works or Lacaton & Vassal’s considerate interventions.
It’s this openness to the world that attracts not only millions of visitors a year but also innovators and architects who have set up shop in Paris and made it their second home. Once again, the city reworks itself as mass construction, renovation, and restoration sites culminate all over the city to host international athletes at the 2024 Olympics.
While we’ve already considered some of Paris’s renowned modernist and brutalist buildings, we've listed 20 iconic Cultural, Commercial, and large Office projects worth visiting this summer.
La Bourse de Commerce / Tadao Ando Architect & Associates + NeM Architectes + Pierre-Antoine Gatier
La Samaritaine / SANAA + LAGNEAU Architectes + Francois Brugel Architectes Associes + SRA Architectes
Palais de Tokyo Expansion / Lacaton & Vassal
Le Monde Group Headquarters / Snøhetta
La Seine Musicale / Shigeru Ban Architects
The Giacometti Institute Museum / Pascal Grasso Architectures
Philharmonie de Paris / Jean Nouvel
Fondation Louis Vuitton / Gehry Partners
Pathé Foundation / Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Docks de Paris / Jakob + MacFarlane
Musee du Quai Branly / Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Le Grand Louvre / I.M. Pei
Gymnasium Jules La Doumègue / Jean Peccoux
French Communist Party Headquarters / Oscar Niemeyer
Bibliothèque Nationale de France / Dominique Perrault
Centre Georges Pompidou / Renzo Piano Building Workshop + Richard Rogers
Galeries Lafayette Haussmann / Georges Chedanne and Ferdinand Chanut
Musée d'Orsay / Victor Laloux, Lucien Magne and Émile Bénard
Eiffel Tower / Gustave Eiffel
Palais Royal / Jules Hardouin-Mansart
We invite you to visit our list of Architecture City Guides.
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