The “New Créteil” was an urbanization program carried out in the seventies. It was intended to provide the city of Créteil, which is located around 6 km southeast of Paris, new apartment buildings and public facilities such as a town hall, prefecture, hospital, and courthouse. In a series called “See the New Créteil,” photographer Robin Leroy documents a city considered transcendent of the traditional clichés of modern architecture.
Leroy’s black and white photographs capture the essential and timeless character of each of the buildings of New Créteil. These photos also show the diversity of a program that left a great deal of freedom to its architects. Between soothing curves and daring angles, imposing masses and ethereal designs, his photos encapsulate a panorama of architectural experiences, from functionalism to plant architecture to brutalism.
With this series, Leroy attempts to depict Créteil, with its sculptural buildings and unique forms, as a kind of open-air museum of modern architecture.
