9. Philharmonie Luxembourg
Location: Grand Duchy of Luxembourg – Luxembourg
Type: Cultural Music Hall
Year: 1997-2005
The Philharmonie is located on the Kirchberg plateau, at the center of a triangular square surrounded by EU administrative offices. Christian de Portzamparc’s idea of planting trees around the music complex, so that the visitors would forget their surroundings as they entered the complex would perhaps be the uplift of this project. This idea was achieved by providing a vast peristyle composed of 827 vertical lines constituting a foyer around the Grand Auditorium. This filters the light, enabling the public to forget their surroundings. The Grand Auditorium and the asymmetrically curved petal-shaped chamber Music Hall have been praised for their acoustic qualities by leading musicians and conductors.
10. De Citadel – Almere
Location: Pays-Bas – Almere
Type: Housing and Commerce
Year: 2000 – 2006
In Holland, Almere was a new city built on the outskirts of Amsterdam forty years ago. The urban master plan was designed by Rem Koolhaas. The “Block-one”, De Citadel, island that Christian de Portzamparc had to design was in the heart of this great neighborhood. It was planned to accommodate a strip of houses, which the architect had thoughtfully organized around a meadow.
11. Tour Granite – Paris
Location: Paris, France.
Type: Office Tower
Year: 2001 – 2008
Tour Granite is an office skyscraper in La Défense, the high-rise business district situated west of Paris, France. It is the fifth tallest building in La Défense. Tour Granite was ordered by the Société Générale banking group. It was built as a complement to the Société Générale twin towers whose office space was insufficient for the needs of the group. Like the existing two towers, Tour Granite has a sharply inclined roof. The slanted top of the tower accentuates the tower’s slenderness and its presence. The slant faces are a frequent theme used in Christian de Portzamparc’s towers.
12. Musée Hergé
Location: Belgique – Louvain-La-Neuve
Type: Cultural Facility
Year: 2001 – 2009
MuséeHergé is a space-tribute to honor the work of Hergé, the Belgian creator of the Adventures of TinTin.Christian de Portzamparc conceived the project as a space of surprises, events, and colors. The journey through the museum has a narrative sequence, surrounded by a colourful and dreamlike interior. The volume of the museum is an elongated prism that seems to float in the forest of old trees. The museum is composed of four opaque volumes that have their own personality and color along with an elevator tower.
13. Cidade Das Artes
Location: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Type: Cultural Facility
Year: 2002 – 2013
The Cidade das Artes is located between sea and mountain. It is in the center of the 14 km of plains which has recently been developed as the new major district of Rio de Janeiro. The project is, indeed, a public symbol, that serves as a new landmark in the Greater Rio. The building is a small raised city, formed around a terrace at ten meters high, floating above is a public park, a tropical and aquatic garden designed by Fernando Chacel. This terrace is a public space, giving access to all facilities. Here, one can feel the great landscape of Rio by seeing the sea, the lakes, the dancing line of the mountain. The Cidade das Artes includes a wide variety of spaces; a concert hall that can transform into an opera and theatre, a room of chamber music and popular music, cinemas, dance, rehearsal rooms, exhibition venues, restaurants, a media library. The Cidade das Artes is seen as a large house, above the city, paying tribute to an archetype of Brazilian architecture. The architecture fits and responds to the beautiful curves of the Siera Atlantica mountains and to the sea line.
14. One57
Location: New York, USA.
Type: Office Tower
Year: 2005 – 2014
One57, formerly known as Carnegie 57 was nicknamed “The Billionaire Building”. It is a 75-story supertall skyscraper at 57th Street in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Upon completion in 2014, it stood at 1,005 feet (306 m) tall, making it the tallest residential building in the city for a few months until the completion of 432 Park Avenue. The tower was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning French architect Christian de Portzamparc.
The use of dark and light-colored glass on the building’s exterior manipulates sunlight and maximizes views. The tower is characterized by its rippled canopies and numerous setbacks on 57th Street. The tower’s fenestration, curved tops, scoop accentuate its verticality.
15. Paris La Defense Arena
Location: Nanterre Préfecture, France.
Type: Stadium / Auditorium
Year: 2011 – 2017
The venue offers three separate configurations. A rugby configuration, that has a nominal seating capacity of 32,000. Concert Hall, that is able to seat 40,000. Finally, a movable stand that allows it to also be used for a variety of indoor sports, at various capacities.
The venue also includes 33,000 sq.m of office space, 300 student rooms, shops, a brewery, and a gourmet restaurant. Its exterior offers a horizontal softness, thanks to an envelope of glass and aluminum scales that diffuse the light of day under the stretched line of its high steps of white concrete.
