LES ARÈNES DE PICASSO | The Architectonic power of precast
“The Pablo Picasso Place is one of the first important projects to be completely prefabricated architectonically thus proving the possibility of prefabrication of the complicated architectural shapes in concrete.”
Les Arenes de Picasso in Noisy-le-Grand (Grand Paris) by architect and urbanist Manuel Nunez Yanowsky is a contemporary reinforced concrete masterpiece and the most renowned landmark of the Seine-Saint-Denis department of the Île-de-France region. The design of this social housing project begun in 1981, its completion was inaugurated in 1985.
Structurally, the project emphasized the versatility of precast to realize complicated architectural shapes in concrete.
Image Courtesy of Laurent Kronental
The text below is from the architect, source : Divisare.
This architectural wonder is a real challenge to the construction and engineering technologies as well as to the imagination of the architecture lovers. Exiting surrealistic buildings in the form of the huge discs 50 m in diameter, held by the pedestals with arcades, envisage the allegory of sunrise and sunset and are set on the opposite sides of the octagonal square. The Pablo Picasso Place is one of the first important projects to be completely prefabricated architectonically thus proving the possibility of prefabrication of the complicated architectural shapes in concrete.
This astonishing architectural masterpiece houses 540 social housing units, boutiques and a secondary school. The octagonal square contains the playgrounds, landscaping design with the use of prefabricated elements, and the monumental sculpture by Miguel Berrocal in the center.
This building already has become the part of the European architectural heritage and is in the list of the international heritage of civil engineering.
Image Courtesy: Haroun Cat/Instagram
