Jean Nouvel, the famed French architect, on Thursday lost a court battle against a £280 million Paris concert hall he designed but whose architecture he claimed had been "martyred" and "sabotaged".

Mr Nouvel boycotted the January opening of the Philharmonie de Paris, an ultra-modern building in the French capital's eastern Parc de La Vilette, accusing project managers of cutting corners to save money during its completion. — telegraph.co.uk

The Eiffel Tower, one of Paris's most visited attractions, welcoming almost seven million visitors per year, was completed 126 years ago today - and there's a Google Doodle to mark the anniversary. — telegraph.co.uk

Towns and cities across France will soon be able to boost their culture offerings by hosting pop-up branches of the Centre Pompidou. The Paris museum is expanding its empire, and aims to establish domestic temporary outposts. “We will soon launch an open call for candidates [to select a French city],” says a spokesman for the Centre Pompidou. These pop-ups will remain open for four years. — theartnewspaper.com

Hours before the official inauguration of the Philharmonie de Paris concert hall on Wednesday, its architect, Jean Nouvel, declared his intention to boycott the gala because he said the towering, 386 million euro (about $455 million) building is not ready to open. [...]

Mr. Nouvel wrote a column that appeared on the website of the French daily Le Monde denouncing the “contempt” of the concert hall managers for “the architecture, the work of the architect and the architect.” — artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com

Alexandre Gady, conservationist, historian of French architecture and professor of modern architecture at the Sorbonne, argues that changing or “renewing” Paris diverts from its real need to look outwards. Paris, he says, is a “finished” city that does not need improving or anything more doing to it. “It’s not that we should be doing this or that – we should not be doing anything in central Paris ... any plan is a diversion from the need of the city to grow outwards,” [...] — theguardian.com

A two-year, 53.5 million euro makeover, or nearly $67 million, is underway in the vast reception area below I. M. Pei’s glass pyramid, where long lines of waiting visitors stream into a chaotic, open space that [the museum president] [Jean-Luc] Martinez likens to a noisy airport and that leaves many people disoriented and lost. He is also revamping the museum’s basic storytelling tools: almost 40,000 banners, wall text, signs and symbols... — nytimes.com

Amid politically charged scenes, Paris city council has narrowly rejected a plan to build the historic city's first skyscraper since a height restriction was imposed in the 1970s.

But Mayor Anne Hidalgo said [...] she would fight the Triangle tower vote. [...]

The architects, Herzog and de Meuron, proposed to build the 180m (590ft) tower in the south-west Porte de Versailles area of the city, after then-Mayor Bertrand Delanoe proposed an end to the 37m limit in parts of the capital. — bbc.com

Five architectural firms are on the shortlist to design the Louvre’s new storage facility, planned to open near the museum’s satellite in Lens, northern France. Corinne Vezzoni & Assoc and Zig Zag architecture, both from France, Neutelings Riedijk Architecten from the Netherlands, Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners from the UK and Estudio Arquitectura Baeza from Spain were chosen from 173 applicants. — theartnewspaper.com

[...] a gallery dedicated to design and architecture will soon also be added the Centre.

Like the “Galerie de Photographies," which is housed in former technical facilities, the future design gallery will be located within the existing Piano + Rogers-designed building. “Eventually, there should be almost no offices in the building, and we'll keep only the technical facilities that are strictly indispensable," said Seban. — news.artnet.com

One of the most popular museums in Paris, the Picasso Museum, reopens on Saturday after a five-year closure for a costly and controversial renovation. [...]

In the run-up to the big day, Lebon has been busy conducting VIP tours. Among his guests: the American architect Frank Gehry, whose monumental Louis Vuitton art foundation has just opened on the other side of Paris.

"I am not here to criticise the architecture, but to praise the painting - which is of course phenomenal," says Gehry. — bbc.com

In a cultural twofer that makes it Frank Gehry week here, the Louis Vuitton Foundation, a private cultural center and contemporary-art museum designed by Mr. Gehry, had its official inaugural ceremony on Monday, attended by the French president, François Hollande. At the same time, the Pompidou Center across town is giving Mr. Gehry, based in Los Angeles, a major career retrospective, his first in Europe. — nytimes.com