La Défense

Exploring the Parisian district of La Défense, whose devolepment started in 1958, is like floating in an uncertain reality, in the model of a futuristic town inhabited, but not really lived.

La Défense in Paris is one of the largest business district in Europe: its construction begun in 1958 under President De Gaulle.

They decided to create a completely new area to fulfil the need of a postwar development (motors, traffic, service industry) and to guarantee the birth of a new financial district able to compete with the City of London.

56 years later here the numbers of La Défense:
12 sectors;
310,000 square feet of pavement and sidewalks;
111,000 square feet of green;
1500 businesses;
3,000,000 square feet of office space;
150,000 employees;
30,000 residents.

Only 30,000 residents, in a city corner that seems to be disconnected from the rest of the urban fabric, and that only during the working hours is populated by 150,000 employees and businessmen.

Exploring La Défense you can experience a sensation of emptyness: movement and chaos are confined to shops, commercial buildings and metro stations. Besides that is like floating in an uncertain reality, in the model of a futuristic town inhabited, but not really lived.