Urban Utopias. La Grande Motte, Brasilia, Chandigarh images
Architecture -Published by Somogy -Ouvrage broché -112 pages -Texts in Bilingue Français - English -Published in 2015
Born from the Modern Movement, the cities of La Grande Motte (1974), Brasília (1960) and Chandigarh (1953) are each characterised by their distinctive architecture.
These three works of contemporary heritage question man’s place in the city and the promise of utopia. Light, dedicated spaces and freedom of movement provide a readiness to dream, to be lived in. The interaction between Stéphane Herbert’s photographs and the poetry of Carole Lenfant invites one to an urban promenade punctuated by games of shadows and the density of the colours.
Architectural harmony, temporality of the body, the voyage begins around Jean Balladur’s pyramids, passes by Oscar Niemeyer’s domes, then ends on the esplanade of Le Corbusier’s Capitol. From the beaches of the Mediterranean to the new civilization that is Brazil to immemorial India: an invitation to meditate on three anticonformist and dreamlike cities, three cities that are open and universal.
