lille shopping and housing

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architect: masterplan: rem koolhaas; building design: jean nouvel. reenie did working drawings of the facade
building type+location: shopping centre and housing near the new international eurostar terminal (lille-europe), avenue lecorbusier, lille
invisible elements:

1. the expression of the commercial intentions of a facade, often subtle or invisible, is made visible and explicit in this design
2. blurred boundaries between apartment and shop, sign and surface, awning and building
3. aluminium and steel surfaces provide a pervading ‘theoretical grey’ backdrop which becomes a graphic support for a play of reflection and light, colour and signage, in the manner of a Tokyo tower bedecked with neon signs.
4. warm and festive red and silver clad parking lots are hidden below the building
5. the infrastructure of the building is intended to operate as a mechanical object supporting an orchestration of colour, light, transparency and logos. it’s a support structure for advertising dreams to be viewed from the space of moving trains, the space of the displaced boundaries of europe.

client: city of lille