Grenoble Favorites

Favorite thing: At dusk, Yann Kersalé transforms the trade city into a moving sculpture of light which colors and rhythm are monitored by sensors that analyze the traffic.
Yann Kersalé is the author of other works using light as a matter : Opéra Bastille in Paris (France), the docks of Saint Nazaire (France) or the "Parc de l'Orangerie" in Strasbourg.
Sorry, I have no picture at night. I will take it as soon as possible !

Favorite thing: Claude Vasconi was the architect of the "Opéra Berlioz" in Montpellier and of the CNET in Grenoble (see tip on Meylan page). Two Grenoble designers work on the site : Bruno Tomasini for the urban furniture and Cochise Agency (Catherine Abrard) for a very elaborated identifying.

Favorite thing: This new district brings together in XXIth century buildings an international congress facility, underground parking facilities for 1,000 cars, numerous offices, apartments, the "École Supérieure de Commerce" (Trade High School, 17,000 m2) and the World Trade Center, both shown on this photo, the Europole Hotel with 2 restaurants and the new "Palais de Justice.

Favorite thing: Until the end of the 80s, railway warehouses, ancient bier brewing facilities, half abandoned flour mills occupied all the space behind the railway station, on the other side of the railways. Once they were taken down, it was decided to build the new Europole trade district. It is ideally situated, next to the railway station, half way between the "Polygone scientifique" and the city center. The land was finished to buy in 1987 and building was to last 10 years

Favorite thing: It is within the framework of the French symposium of sculpture of Grenoble (1967) that Coulentianos Costas created this work. It is established at the entry of Grenoble while coming from Chambéry. A steel cylinder supports great prismatic volumes that are standing out in front of the Belledonne mountains. The plans are multiplied and organized in volumes in order to avoid any symmetry. By the abstraction, the artist joined the world of living beings. As if they were free from gravity, light weighted, this sculpture evokes the bird, its dynamic figure also expresses the concept of take-off, of rise.

For more, look at Oiseau de tôle

Favorite thing: The "Diables bleus" (Blue Devils) are the Alpine commandos, the "Chasseurs Alpins", specially trained to move and operate in the mountains, at high elevation. They became famous during WW1 and even much more during WW2 when they played a main part in the Liberation of the Alps. This monument commemorates their bravery.

Favorite thing: "Pousse de marbre" (marble sprout) by Gigi Guadagnucci
Guadagnucci was born in 1915 in Castagnetola, a village close to Carrare. He followed the family tradition and soon worked on marble. In 1936, for political reasons, he seeked shelter in France. He took a active part in the "maquis" of the Alps. In the 50s, he went back to Italy and finally settled in Paris but shares his time between Paris and Carrare. He is the master of marble carving

Favorite thing: The Town Hall, bronze sculpture by Etienne Hadju, 1967

This sculpture of Etienne Hadju, "formes min?rales abstraites" (abstract mineral shapes), blooms in the center of the patio of the l'H?tel de Ville, in a granite fountain, posed on the mosaic of Gianferrari which covers the ground of the patio. From a shape that the artist multiplies, a concrete image takes form without never being identified with its elementary component. Curved forms, folded up on themselves seem to contain tensions which evoke all the energy maintained in a "mineral flower" about to hatch. This sculpture creates itself progressively its own space medium with its development. One finds the preoccupation with a perfection of the artist in the treatment of the matter, which he wants beautiful, polished and dense.