You’ll find quirky art, architecture and urban design in this pocket of the French capital.
, chunks of baguette slathered in butter and jam, super creamy yoghurt trickled with honey, zesty orange juices andParis is providing the perfect backdrop. “Look, there’s the Sacre-Coeur! And the Arc de Triomphe! And, you know ...”Yes, the Eiffel Tower is doing its thing, lording it over the French capital.
“La Defense has changed so much since I was a kid,” says my partner, Celine, who grew up here, the Manhattan-esque skyline sprouting outside our bedroom window. The first towers shot up in the late 1950s, there was another burst in the 1970s, and the past decade has witnessed an even glossier cluster, driven in part by Brexit, as planners anticipated an influx of business from the UK.
This turbocharged La Defense’s development and ensured Paris remained quintessentially Parisian, dominated by elegant 19th-century Haussmann-style architecture. Though the edict was scrapped in 2015, only certain types of skyscrapers, within certain parts of Paris, will be tolerated, largely by the Boulevard Peripherique ring road .
On Bastille Day 1990, 2.5 million revellers flocked to the Grande Arche for a concert by Jean-Michel Jarre, with fireworks marking the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Scaling steps to this monument’s void, we look west towards La Defense Arena, a smart modern venue designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Christian de Portzamparc. It staged Bruce Springsteen and Celine Dion concerts last year and will host swimming events for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games..
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