It looks like a movie set for a dystopian future. And it was.
Les Espaces d'Abraxas in Noisy-le-Grand (near Paris) is one of the most surreal and monumental housing estates on earth. Designed by the visionary Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill (Taller de Arquitectura) and completed in 1982, it was intended to be a "Versailles for the People"—a rejection of boring modern blocks in favour of grand classical columns, triumphal arches, and theatrical amphitheatres.
Because of its overwhelming scale and otherworldly atmosphere, it became a legend in cinema, serving as the backdrop for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
Whether you are a fan of dystopian cinema, a devotee of Bofill’s "Classical Postmodernism," the incredible crossover of Brutalism and Postmodernism known as "Brutalomo," or an admirer of concrete grandeur, this collection captures the drama of Paris’s most famous architectural stage set.
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