The Arcades du Lac, built in 1981, is an ensemble of apartment buildings in the outer

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

ville nouvelle A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

'' of

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles (new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen to ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, near

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. The mixed suburban housing and

HLM An habitation à loyer modéré (HLM, , ), is a form of low-income housing in France, Algeria, Senegal, and Quebec. It may be public or private, with rent subsidies. HLMs constitute 16% of all housing in France.Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura (RBTA) is a architecture firm that was founded in 1963 by Ricardo Bofill, initially as Taller de Arquitectura ("Architecture Workshop" in Spanish). It is headquartered in Sant Just Desvern near Barcelona, in ...

as the centerpiece of an urban composition, with the central portion "Le Viaduc" jutting into an artificial lake from the shore. The design was inspired by the Pont d'Avignon,

Château de Chenonceau The Château de Chenonceau () is a French château spanning the river Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire Valley. The estate of Chenonceau is firs ...

and the

Aqueduct of Segovia The Aqueduct of Segovia () is a Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain. It was built around the first century AD to channel water from springs in the mountains away to the city's fountains, public baths and private houses, and was in use until 1973. I ...

.Julie Guillot-Harrold, les Arcades du Lac: l'esprit des lieux, Miroir n°6-7, 1993, p.21. The entire project was described by architecture critic

Charles Jencks Charles Alexander Jencks (21 June 1939 – 13 October 2019) was an American cultural theorist, landscape designer, architectural historian, and co-founder of the Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres. He published over thirty books and became famous i ...

as an adaptation of

as a "Versailles for the people" while noting influences of

Claude Nicolas Ledoux Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (21 March 1736 – 18 November 1806) was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only domestic architecture but also town planning; as ...

in the detailing of the elevations. Bofill's design intention was to offer a contrast between the new housing of the 1970s and 1980s and the earlier

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

-inspired housing projects of the 1950s and 1960s.

References

External links

Images of Arcades du Lac and Le Viaduc at Ricardo Bofill's website
1981 establishments in France Buildings and structures in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Postmodern architecture Housing estates in France Ricardo Bofill buildings {{postmodern-architecture-stub

See also

References

External links