2024-12-22T07:23:33-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/149938702/hugely-overwrought-oliver-wainwright-on-the-newly-reopened-les-halles Nicholas Korody 2016-04-06T12:31:00-04:00 >2016-04-10T00:21:39-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/yj/yjnvfb9mpso4nvds.JPG?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>Unveiled this week, the &euro;1bn redevelopment is the largest infrastructure project that Paris has undertaken in decades, aiming to fix the messy tangle where Europe&rsquo;s biggest underground station disgorges 750,000 passengers a day into a labyrinthine warren of shops [...] It is hugely overwrought, the layered steel roof pulled to and fro in tortured twists and turns, forming a contorted rollercoaster of curved trusses and angled bracing...</p></em><br /><br /><p><em>"The whole thing has a forlorn droop when seen from the west, as if sagging under the weight of expectation. Nor does the colour help. Ranging between sand and rancid butter depending on the light, the yellow steelwork casts a jaundiced pallor across the scene, lending the interiors a decidedly institutional air."</em></p><p>From marketplace to open pit to "custard-coloured flop" &ndash; more on Les Halles here:</p><ul><li><a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/11674/a-new-vision-for-paris-les-halles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A new vision for Paris' Les Halles</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/11432/les-halles-days-to-go" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Les Halles, Days to Go...</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/8905/eyeing-the-belly-of-paris" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Eyeing the 'Belly of Paris'</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/6869/rebuilding-les-halles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rebuilding Les Halles</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/features/article/106655266/art-architecture-bruno-zhu-in-a-symphony-of-objects" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Art + Architecture: Bruno Zhu in a Symphony of Objects</a></li></ul>