AD Classics: Le Grande Louvre / I.M. Pei. In 1981, the newly elected French president, Francois Mitterrand, launched a campaign to renovate cultural institutions throughout France. One of the most advantageous of those projects was the renovation and reorganization of the Louvre. In 1983 after touring Europe and the United States, President Mitterrand commissioned the Chinese American architect, I.M.
Pei. It was the first time that a foreign architect was enlisted to work on the Louvre museum. Completed in 1989, I.M. In addition to providing a new entrance to the Louvre, Pei’s design featured a new underground system of galleries, storage, and preservation laboratories, as well as a connection between the wings of the museum. Pei’s design of the Louvre addition implemented a large glass and steel pyramid that is surrounded by three smaller triangles that provide light to the space below Cour Napoleon.
However, as the decades have passed and Paris has modernized Pei’s design has become embedded in the Parisian culture. America's Most Beautiful Public Library | Book Recommendations and Reviews. When you grow up in Kansas City and move away, you get used to people making Wizard of Oz jokes and assuming you drove a tractor to school pretty quickly. Though it took leaving to make me fully realize it, my hometown is rich in culture, and not just because it has amazing jazz and the world’s best barbecue.
Exhibit A: the Central Library. Located in Kansas City, Missouri, this is the anchor branch of the Kansas City Public Library system. And it’s a beauty. Let’s start on the outside. The building that houses the library was originally built as a bank in 1906, with all the marble and mahogany-covered grandeur one would expect from early 20th-century architecture. Upon entering, take a stroll through Kirk Hall. The bank’s vault, built in 1925 with walls of steel and reinforced concrete and a 35-ton steel door, lives on as home of film screenings and theater events. The children’s reading area is magical and inviting. Go up to the fifth floor to enjoy the Missouri Valley Reading Room. AD Classics: Le Grande Louvre / I.M. Pei. Manchester Civil Justice Centre / Denton Corker Marshall.
Architects Location Manchester, UK Architect Denton Corker Marshall Project Instigator Her Majesty’s Court Service Engineers Mott MacDonald Tenant Ministry of Justice (North West) Developer Allied London Properties Contractor Bovis Lend Lease Area 34000.0 sqm Project Year 2008 Photographs Tim Griffith From the architect. An international competition-winning design for the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice in the North West of England, the biggest court complex to be built in the UK since the Royal Courts of Justice in the 19th century. The building provides accommodation of around 34,000 sqm on 15 levels. It houses 47 courtrooms, 75 consultation rooms, in addition to office and support space.
From the exterior, it signals and literally displays the accessibility of the courts. This building is part of the city, and the city part of the building. The judicial interface is seen as the principal city scale signal of the Civil Justice Centre.