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Caption: "The competition 1970-71 attracted 681 entries…. The international jury which included Jean Prouvé, Phillip Johnson and Oscar Niemeyer, awarded prizes to 30 projects in addition to the winning Piano/Rogers/Arup entry." Caption: "Construction 1972-77 cost (1977) 100,000,000 pounds, site area 100,000 sq metres. Excavation commenced March 1972. Steelwork completed June 1975. Beaubourg opens January 1977." Commentary introduces Peter Rice, structural engineer, who talks about the problem of helping people relate to such a large building. Early model; photographs. Rice says the structure had to be clear and simple. Demonstration (with model) of how gerberettes (cast steel brackets), placed on steel columns and held in place with steel tension rods, support steel beams. Shots of the actual structure, with Rice explaining how it functions, intercut. Rice suggests that the viewer’s perception of the building is influenced by the attempt to understand it. Further details of structure, showing the framework enclosing an internal space. Rice says the structure forces the viewer to look at the detail, rather than noticing its size. View of the whole building. Overhead photograph of Paris showing the Beaubourg site before construction. Richard Rogers explains talks of the importance of the piazza as a space for people to congregate. Architect’s drawing and model. Rogers’s VO over shots of building and its walkways, with people looking out, and walking inside. He talks about the structure and how it gives the building texture, light, etc. Early development models showing ideas for the building’s "transparency", though much of the glass originally envisaged had to be replaced for safety reasons. Main entrance hall full of visitors. Rogers, on escalators, talks about the huge increase in visitor numbers (45,000 people per day against an anticipated 2,000) which has caused access issues. Rogers on the minimalist structure, in which materials have been reduced to the least possible quantity in relation to safety and security, but which attracts the visitor to consider its technology. Rogers talking about the way in which interior and exterior interact and blend together. Renzo Piano says that no-one is indifferent to the building. He doesn’t want it to establish a "Beaubourg style". The Centre was designed as a machine which could be altered to accommodate changes in cultural activities, for example, the use of the Library changing from static to very dynamic. View over Paris towards the Beaubourg. Denis Postle believes it is part of two established traditions, that of prestige projects, and an architectural aesthetic that began in Britain in the 1960s. |
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