Finally got to see it on Monday after not having the time last year. Wow!!! Was starting to suffer from "ye olde architecture" overload after a few chateau in the Loire and the medieval wooden framed houses of Tours.

I have wanted to see this building forever, since I saw it on a ten minute filler slot on BBC2 in the late 1980s. The Seine side is quite fine, and I like where the curved volume meets the rectangular one.... but the other side with the motorised screens was amazing - just the scale and repetition of the facade was wonderful.


http://www.archiseek.com/guides/france/paris/images/institut_du_monde_arabe1.jpg

http://www.archiseek.com/guides/france/paris/images/institut_du_monde_arabe1_detail.jpg

.Institut du Monde Arabe (http://www.archiseek.com/guides/france/paris/institut_du_monde_arabe/index.html)

Loved it, loved it, loved it, but I think my better half preferred the Pantheon.

Incidentally also saw Nouvel's Vinci cente in Tours, the baseball cap as architectural statement! But that was taken on film, so I'll post those shots later next week

Did you go in?

Its a spectacular piece of architecture.

The Grande Mosque is quite near here as well (at the Jardin des Plantes - a Parisien gem)

The baseball cap as architectural statement:
http://www.archiseek.com/guides/france/touraine/tours/vinci_centre_lge.html