Pics?
Small, Large, institutional, residential??

beautiful classical buildings(define classical anything before modernism probably) boulevards and parks. is that all they have to offer?

they do have cheese if thats your thing

you don't even get a chair in a lot of those coffee places. and the cups are so small!

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modern architecture in paris is too easy. check any book on 'modern architecture in europe'. to start a list here (maison de verre, maisons jaoul, salvation army, french communist party hq, pompidou, arab institute, parc de la villette, bibliotecque nationale.....) would be a silly effort.

whoever made that comment (mr bayley) was kind of dumb.

Why would you need a cup which holds more than a shot of coffee?

To be fair,
Bayley does list the usual suspects...
Maison de verre, Arab Institute, Pampidou..

I guess i was wondering more along the lines of newer (just a few years or couple of decades..)

And besides the new Nouvel musuem.....

Anyone...

as we all know, stephen bayley's notion of "modern" architecture is itself based on an quaint, nostalgic notion of the past and the present. he clearly knows nothing of Paris or modern and contemporary French architecture.

- Cartier Fondation - J. Nouvel
- American Centre - F. Gehry
- Parc Citroen - P. Berger
- Canal Plus - R. Meier
- Cité de la Musique - Portzamparc
- housing by Rossi, Portzamparc, Piano, HdM, OMA,
- Palais de Tokyo - Lacaton & Vassal
- Pacific Tower - Kurokawa,

much less the ones mentioned above.

try: http://www.e-architect.co.uk/paris_architecture.htm

Perhaps I'm stretching the meaning of the word "modern", but Niemeyer's French Communist Party Headquarters are pretty cool too.

I would like to point out the more serious attitude concerning the problem of the <desire to 'modernize' paris>. [Given that, we are discovering, it IS already advanced in its architecture] Running hand in hand with the introduction of hard-line free-market policies of Nicolas Sarkozy- which as we know- meets much resistance still in Paris, given its history and hoh hoh hoh. But in a meeting in which Sarkozy invited the 'starchitects', he (in courting them) asked 'how do we eliminate guidelines to make it easier to build whatever we want in Paris?' And Jean Nouvel answered, appropriately, 'that it is not no guidelines that is important, but what guidelines and how?'.
Now don't forget about Morphosis's new Phare, and Nouvel's new Opera.... (Also I guess we have forgotten the 16th arrondisement, and La Villette).
It is a plentiful city, and really what is lacking is an adequate response to housing the influx of immigrants- now- good architecture for that would be much more valuable than 'modern'.

There's a nice Portzamparc addition in the 15th, for the Musée Bourdelle (Rue Antoine Bourdelle). It incorporates the Sculptor's original studio, some converted light industrial space and some new build.

And thankyou nam for the Bayley link. Useful.

you can find a large database of smaller, less famous modern architecture in paris. Not so great design, but a large database, with a functionnal classification and exploration. Click in the lower right corner where you read "BASE DE DONNEES DES ARCHITECTURES CONTEMPORAINES A PARIS" .