Site Drawing & Arc de Triomphe

The Paris Off-Campus studio option for fall 2021 will engage the hyper-unique condition of the Parisian urban landscape. Following Project one: An Architecture of Prospect, Last Friday students of the Paris Studio spent class time sketching, observing, and documenting the site conditions of Ile de la Cité with Professor Robert Holton and Professor Kelly Greeson. This is an island in the River Seine in the center of Paris which was selected for their semester project for its unique historical location with different edge conditions due to being located in the center of Paris. It is also the site of the city’s oldest surviving bridge, the Pont Neuf. Throughout the semester, check back for progress updates.

Students were invited to develop the idea of Envisioning the Future of Paris Along the Seine during their discussions with the professors. Reimagine how people may live along the river by using architectural components and geometric features as a set of abstract operational techniques and organizations.

Members of the Paris Studio collected their understanding of the site through the site drawing activity with the supervision of the design studio faculty by drawing to define new spaces, programmatic connections, and re-conglomerate the existing environment.

After the site drawing exercise, students accompanied by Professors Robert Holton and Kelly Greeson went to see the recent installation of Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude had this idea since 1961 and after years of planning, it got finally realized. Financed privately, it’s the first artwork in their signature since they died.

Students were in front of the artwork of Arc de Triomphe.

The wrapping was done with 25000 cubic meters of recyclable blue and silver tissue, and visitors can have a little square of the original tissue. Photo by Nusrat Sultana.

The members of LSU CoAD in Paris 2021 had a fantastic evening.