Project: Alésia Museum and Archaeological Park

Architect: Bernard Tschumi

Location: Alise-Sainte-Reine, France

Consisting of two cylindrical buildings, the Alésia Museum and Archaeological Park sits in the countryside of a small town with a storied past. The museum is positioned on top of a hill exactly at the point where the Gauls stood during a siege, while the interpretive center is located at the Roman position in the fields below. The museum is built of stones, similar in look to the town buildings but with contemporary technology, and is buried partially into the hill so that from above it appears as an extension of the landscape. The interpretive center is made of wood, as the Roman fortifications would have been at the time of the siege. An awareness of the surrounding landscape as it pertains to the historic battle is integral to the visitors’ experience.

Read more about this project in the Architizer database.

Photos: Christian Richters

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All photos: Hufton + Crow

The CMA CGM in Marseille sees ZHA’s parametric approached applied vertically for the first time. The 142-meter structure, the headquarters of a major French shipping company, is the city’s tallest building and looms over the horizontal urban fabric of Marseille’s commercial port. The tower abuts a major road artery that whisks traffic in and out of the city center, making the building a gateway of sorts. Rather than reproduce the typical tower-and-podium scheme, the project uses curved geometry to propose an alternative model: the structure’s wide base, which contains a more diverse array of program, contracts as it rises towards the middle section, then shoots upwards and flattens into an office block.

The effect of CMA CGM’s swooping forms is heightened when viewed from the traffic ramp, where, from inside a speeding car, the building takes on a truly dynamic appearance. From the ground, however, the project takes on an admittedly more static presence; it’s here that the building’s prismatic shell that individuates it from its surroundings. The tower’s double-layered envelope of glass, which lock into a central core element, contrasts with the gritty concrete and asphalt of its context. All of which is captured in these new photos by Hufton + Crow. Click through to see them all. 

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The last time we checked in with Norman Foster, he was planning to 3D print lunar base using materials harvested from the moon. (Moon rocks? Moon-stuff?) Back on earth, the famed architect found some time to toss off this striking pavilion in Marseilles, France. The reflective structure, whose minimalism has shades of SANAA in it, shows us a more youthful side to Lord Foster that we haven’t seen in a long time. Click through for more.

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In case you haven’t heard, Public Voting for the Architizer A+ Awards Public Choice Winners is live! Today we’re spotlighting the amazing finalists in the residential categories — which encompass everything from super-sleek skyscrapers to rectangular ski lodges, from urban housing to remote hideaways. We’ve also included some pretty rad interiors, including a cozy mountain villa (with spectacular views) and a NYC penthouse that residents can fly through via harnesses attached to the ceiling. Click through to see them all!

Spot a favorite? Make sure to vote for it over at the A+ Public Voting site!

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Project: New French National Archives

Architect: Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas

Location: Saint Denis, France

Function: The design of the recently opened New French National Archives draws inspiration from the collective identity and memory of the Paris metropolitan area (Saint Denis is a northern suburb). The facility is composed of two main “bodies”—one extends horizontally and looks “suspended, lightweight, transparent”; the other is vertically oriented and appears “anchored to the ground, imposing, reflective.” The complex contains archival rooms, conference space, offices, an auditorium, and sculptures by Antony Gormley. Read more about this project in the Architizer database.

Photo © Yves Bellier and Poltrona Frau

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Architects have a penchant for breaking with tradition, and little can be done to help the matter. Still, not all architects are the overzealous megalomaniacs that Howard Roark or Zaha Hadid make them out to be. A good architect knows that every context possesses its own charms that can and should be used in the making of something new. They’ll work to call out features and rhythms—but not necessarily forms and ornament—unique to the place and incorporate them into their work.

You might call them good neighbors, and before that State Farm jingle gets irretrievably lodged in your head—where it will play over and over and over—we thought we’d show you 10 buildings that give a better idea of what we’re talking about. All of the projects show a keen eye for detail, an impeccable sense of scale, and, most importantly, dutiful restraint, while maintaining their own sense of flair. They’re just short of ringing at your door with a plate of freshly baked cookies. Click through for the slideshow!

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Project: Nativity of the Giraffe

Architect: Hondelatte Laporte Architectes

Location: Boulogne-Billancourt, France

Function: The architects sculpted a giant yellow giraffe around a 450-square-meter nursery to create this unusual structure. The whimsical design takes that beloved childhood  concept of wild animals inhabiting an urban environment and runs with it, revitalizing the public space. Read more about this project in the Architizer database.

Photo © Philippe Ruault

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Building: Nanterre Apartments

Architect: X-TU

Location: Nanterre, France

The architects behind this large housing block were very careful to keep the building to scale. “Cutting with scissors”, they ensured that the architecture retained a “domestic scale”, creating playful figurative voids (“+” signs, L-shaped oblongs) that span the length of the facades and which form terraces and elevated public spaces. The mega-block is divided into 5 cubic volumes of varying sizes (“a skyline of volumes”) that are connected by corridors and communal halls. The hull of the structure floats above the ground and over retail space. On the roof, vegetable gardens, recreational areas, and even beekeeping units help endear neighbors to each other and to partake in urban experiences together. See more of this project in the Architizer database here.

Think you’ve got a better project? Submit it for an Architizer A+ Award!

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Oh yay, another set of photographs showing another stunning renovated Parisan apartment. Yawn. But wait! The equally jaded members of French studio FREAKS Freearchitects, have brought a fun, quirky performance-art element to their latest architectural accomplishment. After completing the redesign of an apartment on the Rue de Rivoli that once belonged to Napoleon, they dressed as the (tiny) man himself to bring new life to the finished flat’s images. Now instead of squinting at each room’s historic crown molding or the clean, modern lines of the new additions, viewers can ogle three oddly dressed men inhabiting the space as the great commander himself would have. Read more!

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Leda Chair

Dalí is known throughout the world as an impresario, iconoclast, and, of course, artist. Upon hearing his name, one pictures the twirled mustache, the eccentric gaze, and, maybe and only then, the sun-shelled, dripping clocks depicted in “Persistence of Memory”. What most people seem to forget, however, is that the Surrealist was much more than his mannered appearance or the fantastic nonsense of his canvases. Outside of the world of painting, Dalí built a repertoire of work ranging from film and literature to  fashion and furniture design, all of which can be seen at a new Dalí exhibition currently on display at the George Pompidou Centre (open until March 25, 2013). To commemorate the show, the My Design showroom in Paris will be exhibiting a line of Salvador Dalí-designed furniture, manufactured by BD Barcelona Design. Read more.

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