Tuesday, December 18, 2018

COMMISSARIAT DE POLICE DU 12ÈME ARRONDISSEMENT

PARIS, FRANCE

Despite looking vaguely art-deco in form, the structure was actually designed by architects Manolo Nunez-Yanowski and Miriam Teitelbaum in 1991, and houses the Commissariat de Police du 12ème arrondissement (the local police station).

Although the curves of the building are merely derivative, what makes it really noticeable are of course the sculptured human forms jutting out from the balconies on the top floor.

Sometimes labelled caryatids in descriptions of the building, these are actually telamons or atlantes, as the figure is most definitely male! In fact, the figure is based on Michelangelo’s dying slave sculpture which can be found today in the Louvre.

Manolo Nunez-Yanowski is very much a postmodern architect, and unsurprisingly worked with Ricardo Bofill on several projects. 

Indeed, two of their most well-known creations can be seen alongside each other in the town of Noisy le Grand to the east of Paris. 

The Arenes de Picasso for Nunez-Yanowski  (sometimes known as the camembert), and Le Palacio for Bofill. 

--parisinvisible.blogspot.com

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