Paris - Pompidou Centre - 3me

Plate XXVIII - Pompidou Centre - Up Close…

I have heard the Pompidou Centre described as having been built inside out. That possibly does best describe the high tech modernist style of the architecture, but it does the Pompidou Centre little justice. It is true that there is extensive exposed pipe and formwork cladding much of the exterior of the construction. Colourfully coded in primary hues to indicate purpose (green pipes for plumbing, circulation ducting in blue and safety devices in red, with yellow denoting electrical reticulation) the formwork is an integral element of its design. Exterior staircases for going from level to level are encased in smoke grey polycarbonate tubes, and further the concept of using the vast 100,000 square metres plus of interior space primarily for the exhibition purpose it was meant to serve.  

Pompidou Centre, or Beaubourg as it is colloquially known also houses the Public Information Library, and the Centre for Acoustic and Music Research (IRCAM) but remains most well known amongst its millions of visitors as the National Museum of Modern Art. Paris almost seems to have conveniently filed by genre its art treasures in a number of museums – the Louvre for the old masters, the Orsay for the impressionists and modern masters, and the Tokyo Palace and the Pompidou Centre for the more modern, avant-garde and ultra-contemporary works. Of course that is an oversimplification but for any visitor with limited time in the city it would certainly help one cover a good representative spread of what is on offer. 

The centre’s design was democratically chosen from a number of competition entrants in 1971, and although named after Georges Pompidou who was French president at the time of its planning, it was opened by President Valery Giscard d’Estaing in 1977. Design was by a team of architects comprising of Italian partners Renzo Piano and Gianfranco Franchini, British couple Richard and Su Rogers, and structural engineers Edmund Happold and Peter Rice (and its detractors claim that its design ‘by committee’ shows). It certainly has assured their places in every lexicon of architecture published since, and today is considered one of the ‘A’ list attractions of the city. 

I found it the most accessible of the art museums of Paris, where the extensive collections of works speak for themselves - the naked simplicity of the interior spaces being no diversion for the eye’s attention.