Centre Pompidou Facade — Exposed Structure, Paris

4 October 2017 · Paris

The Centre Pompidou turns its skeleton inside out. Pipes, trusses, and cross-bracing that would normally hide inside a wall are pushed to the surface here, arranged into a dense lattice of diagonals that reads almost as abstract geometry when the angle is low enough. The caterpillar escalator tube cuts through the middle of it all, a curved silver form against the structural grid. Piano and Rogers made the building's function its ornament — the result is a facade that rewards close attention more than a clean skyline shot does.