The thing that fascinated me about the Centre Pompidou when I saw it was the bright colors and how weird it was to have the air ducts, elevators, escalators, and pipe systems outside. Turns out… it was an architectural choice when it opened in 1977: Designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, and enabled them to create huge uncluttered space inside. You can see why it’s nickname is the “Inside-Out Building”.
Four strong colours – blue, red, yellow and green – clothe the structure and enliven the façade, their use governed by a code laid down by the architects:
- blue for circulating air (air conditioning)
- yellow for circulating electricity
- green for circulating water
- red for circulating people (escalators and lifts)[1]
To find out more, see information pack on the architecture of the building.
Place Georges Pompidou – 75004 Paris
Le Marais – 4e Arrondissement
If you go visit, you should find something else to do on Tuesdays, and May 1st, because Centre Pompidou is closed.
Fun Fact #2: The Place Georges Pompidou in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers, such as mimes and jugglers.
Did You Know?
- It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building.
- A fifth floor room of the building featured as the office of Holly Goodhead in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker, which in the film was scripted as being part of the space station of the villainous Hugo Drax.
