Page 4 - AIT1019_LeHavre

L e Havre is the dream of every architect: a modern city by the sea, designed by one
person, cast in concrete and almost unchanged for more than half a century! De-
stroyed during air raids in the Second World War, Auguste Perret, the father figure of
French architecture, was commissioned to rebuild the city in 1945. His plan: a grid city
with greened perimeter development within a large axial triangle! Avenue Foch connects
the city centre with the Atlantic Ocean. Colonnaded Rue de Paris is at right angles to it. It
is based on the legendary Rue de Rivoli in Paris. The ends of Avenue Foch and Rue de
Paris are connected by Boulevard François Premier, which follows the coast line and com-
pletes the triangle. When Perret died in 1954, the new city inside this triangle was almost
complete. What was still missing was taken over by his staff and students. In 2005, the
ensemble was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Das Les Enfants Sages (7) verfügt über einen herrlichen Garten. Der speziellste Raum ist das Hundezimmer.

Saturday: The World Heritage City

r 10:00 a.m. – Our tour begins at the Town Hall (1), at the intersection of Avenue Foch
and Rue de Paris. Perret had designed the building, but did not live to see its completion.
The volume of the broad administration building is balanced by a lateral tower. A replica
of the city architect's office is situated in the tower. The most striking building in the city
silhouette is St Joseph's Church (2). It is Perret's most important spatial creation and one
of the most spectacular sacred buildings of modern times! After Perret's death, it was
completed by Raymond Audigier. Perret designed a 107-metre high octagonal concrete
tower that rises above a square church interior. The architect envisioned a lighthouse for
his seaside town! 12,768 coloured glass bricks in the church and tower walls bathe the
interior in a magical light and relate St Joseph’s with the great French High Gothic cathe-
drals in Reims, Amiens and Beauvais.
r 2:00 p.m. – Until the late 1970s, Place Gambetta served as a marketplace. Perret had
planned several cultural buildings here, which were never built. Only between 1978 and
1982, Oscar Niemeyer completed the original plan. The Brazilian architect reacted to Per-
ret's strict, orthogonal grid with soft, flowing shapes, but showed respect for his prede- Unser Hoteltipp ist das im Stil der 1950er-Jahre eingerichtete Ibis Styles (9) an der zentralen Rue de Paris.

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