Grenoble Favorites

Favorite thing: Out of the railway station, on theright, you will see the impressive Calder's steel stabile, built for the 1968 Olympic Games. It was called "les trois pics" and evokes the three massifs that surrounds Grenoble, Chartreuse, Vercors and Belledone.
Another Calder stabile is in front of the Musée de Grenoble (see my tip).
For more on Calder visit the website dedicated to his achievments.

Favorite thing: In 1967, for the Winter Olympics, Grenoble needed a "Stade de Glace". P. Junillon and R. Demarini were the architects, helped by N Esquillan, a concrete architect. The cover structure is made of four segments of shells, themselves made of two 7 cm thick concrete veils separated by a technical void of 1 meter. The structure covers 12,000 square meters.

The four segments meet at right angle and built on four "culées" made of a tripod of reinforced concrete held by 24 meters deep piles. The largest span is 95m and the smallest 65 m. The cover structure is independent of the fronts that hold the steps and there is no link between both.

It is now a "Palais des sports", used for various sport events such as the cycling "Les Six jours de Grenoble" ans art shows.

Adresse : parc Paul Mistral.

Favorite thing: L'Île Verte is not an island but a residential part of Grenoble that was outside the city walls. On the grounds left by the fortifications, between l'Île Verte and the old city, three towers were built in the late 60s at the same time as the "Immeuble en S" (S shaped building). There was much opposition to this architecture but it is now often represented as the figure of Grenoble !

Favorite thing: From right to left
A building with apartments and offices built in the 70s in a style often found in Grenoble.
The "Bibliothèque Municipale", Avenue Maréchal Lyautey was built as the University library and became city library when the former moved to the campus in the middle of the 60s. I had to make extensive research to learn when I was built but finally got it. The architect was Jean Benoit and it was built in 1950.
The Telephone building built in the early 50s with the last level added in the 70s in a different style.
The Place Paul Mistral apartment buildings, built in the late 50s-early 60s

Favorite thing: This crossing has always amazed me as it shows in a single glimpse different styles of building. Unfortunately, because of road works involved by the building of the third tramway line, I could not get all these buildings on a single photo. However, the two pictures were taken from almost the same place.

On this photo, the "Bibliothèque Municipale" on the left, the "multiplexe Chavant" on the right and in the foreground, the General Post Office.
The General Post Office was built around 1970.
The "multiplexe Chavant" (cinemas and parking) built in 2000 with a shining dark glass front.

Favorite thing: Maison de la Culture, Concrete sculpture, Marta Pan, 1967

Located on the terrace of the Maison de la culture, close to the main entry, this sculpture indicates the access and the meaning of the building. Two identical interwoven elements form an ovoid sculpture. They are immobilized in a side movement of slip. This work falls under the series of the sculptures with hinges.
The fundamental components of the sculptural thought of Marta Pan are found in this work. The movement is expressed in the duration and marks a separation. The two independent elements find their true direction in the bringing together; the duality is represented in a relation of complementarity. Lastly, this work falls under the architectural space of the House of the Culture and finds here a social vocation; if it evokes a union in love quite naturally, it indicates in a metaphorical way the function of reception and communion of the House of the Culture. The beauty comes from the sublimated forms and nudity.

Favorite thing: The "Maison de la Culture" also named the "Cargo" was built in 1967-68 and renewed in 2004. The architects were André Wogensky and Antoine Stinco with Alain Richard for the interior.

It was inaugurated in 1968 by famous writer André Malraux who was then "Ministre des Affaires Culturelles" The "Maisons de la Culture" have been created in France since 1960 in order to democratize culture and bring it to the people.

It stands on a bare ground which enhances it. It is a great white building with black superstructures, the contrary of the surrounding mountains. It looks almost like a vessel, hence it nickname of "Cargo". Wogensky got a great deal of its inspiration from his master Le Corbusier. The frame is made of raw concrete.Most faces are blind and the few openings have sun breakers.

Adress : 4, rue Paul-Claudel.

Favorite thing: The 1968 Winter Olympic games in Grenoble required housings for the athletes and their coaches.
Maurice Novarina, a young architect that represented a modern architecture was chosen. He had to conceive 1,800 lodgings that should fit for the athletes and their coach but that should later be transformed into a district for social lodging, student apartments, home for young workers.

In order to make a "village look", he chose to build low buildings (4 levels) with wooden loggias and linked by footpath with a few 15 levels towers on the outskirts, in order to give enough lodging. There are collective services (schools, day nurseries, etc…) and free space so that it is not a "Grand Ensemble"