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Design

The New Pathe Foundation Headquarters by Renzo Piano Squeezed Into a City Block in Paris

all photos copyright Michel Denancé

For the last 8 years the Pathe Foundation in Paris has worked with Pritzker-winning architect Renzo Piano to design and construct their new headquarters. Slated for a grand opening this September, photos have emerged that reveal, in the architect’s own words, “an unexpected presence”: a curved bulbous structure that looks like it’s been squeezed into an opening within a historic Parisian city block. “The art of inserting a new building into an historic city block,” says Piano, “means engaging in an open, physical dialogue with the existing city buildings.” In other words, it’s an exercise in reclaiming space.

Hidden mostly behind buildings, the new headquarters, which will promote the Pathe’s heritage in cinematography with office spaces, film archives and a screening room, pokes its head out above the neighbors, looking like a giant armadillo. Walking by, an unsuspecting visitor would have no idea was behind that street-side facade. (via Designboom)

Photography

Falling Upwards: A Vertigo-Inducing View at King Aragon's Stairs in France

Photographer Allard Schager shot this perplexing photo while looking up the Stairway of the King of Aragon, a stairwell carved into a steep cliff face in Bonifacio, Corsica, France. I’ve looked at it carefully half a dozen times and still get confused as to which way is up or down. Totally wild.

Art

A Giant Twisting Serpent Skeleton Emerges from the Loire River in France

Emmanuel Le Guellec

Completed in 2012, Serpent d’océan is a giant aluminum sea serpent skeleton by artist Huang Yong Ping (previously) situated off the shore of the Loire River where it empties into the Bay of Biscay just outside of Nantes, France. Measuring nearly 425 feet (130 meters) in length the curving skeleton mirrors the curves of the nearby Saint-Nazaire bridge and was created as a permanent work for the final Estuaire contemporary art exhibition in 2012. Via Nantes Tourisme:

By having a major figure from Chinese mythology appear on European shores, Huang Yong Ping examines, the notions of identity and cultural hybridity, as is often the case in his work. The environmental question is also very present in his art where he regularly exposes the paradox of the man sawing the branch he is sitting on, torn between creative abilities and destructive impulses. This is one of the many possible interpretations of this work: placed on the beach, the skeleton appears with the tide and, little by little, will be home to marine fauna and flora.

Depending on weather conditions, tide levels, or the perspective of a photographer, Serpent d’océan appears dramatically different from day to day, a phenomenon you can witness over on Flickr.

Philippe Cabaret

Nantes Tourisme

Kamel Mennour, photo by Gino Maccarinelli

via Flickr

Amazing

What it Looks Like to Soar Through a French Mountain Range on the Back of an Eagle

In this short clip filmed earlier this week using a GoPro camera strapped to the back of an eagle, we see what it might be like to soar through a mountain range near Chamonix, France. (via Kottke)

Art

New Origami Street Art in Angers, France by Mademoiselle Maurice

French artist Mademoiselle Maurice (previously here and here) has two fun new pieces up this month as part of the 2013 ARTAQ Festival in Angers, France. Requiring over 30,000 folded components, the artist relied on help from school children and people living in nearby “leisure centers” to help complete all of the pieces in time for installation. Hundreds of additional volunteers were on-hand to help cover a stairwell leading to Montée St-Maurice which was completed on May 31st. See many more photos here.

Design

The Port Vieux Pavilion: A Mirrored Canopy Constructed on a French Wharf

Recently unveiled in Marseille, France this giant mirrored canopy called the Port Vieux Pavilion was designed by architecture firm Foster + Partners. The pavilion measures nearly 150 feet (46 meters) long and is made of highly polished stainless steel meant to reflect people and the surrounding environment of Marseille’s World Heritage-listed harbor. The project is somewhat analogous to Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate here in Chicago and based on these photos I have no doubt the canopy will be a huge draw for tourists and locals alike. (via designboom)