Centre George Pompidou, France - Monuments

Monuments

Centre George Pompidou flawlessly epitomizes all those cases when the very construction competes for dominance with its contents. Named after a previous President of France and finished between 1971 and 1977, the center is justly a strange construction. Characterizing hi-tech architecture, it's a frame of shapes, colors, cables, boxes, and tubes, as if the designer wanted to twirl a multifaceted machine inside out. The masterpiece provides characteristic home for a public library, the Bibliothèque publique d'information, the Musée National d'Art Moderne, and a centre for music and acoustic research (IRCAM). Most prominently, the center succeeds in flourishing as a space with common people at the heart of art and culture. Bounded by artistic creation, the public feels at home, rather than at a cold gallery that stands detached over the society.