Hôtel Industriel
26 rue Brunesseau
75013 Paris
France
Dominique Perrault 1990
Perrault's Hôtel Industriel in
the south of Paris is a highly successful combination of transparency and
minimalism. Perrault won the commission in competition, giving him the
opportunity to create this essential precursor to his Bibliothèque Nationale François Mitterand,
which was completed five years later and a couple of blocks to the North.
But whereas storing books behind
glass walls in the Bibliothèque has its practical difficulties, the warehouses, workshops and
offices in the Hôtel Industriel function well, expressing their different characters through what
they stack up on the internal brise-soleil metal shelving which
runs continuously round the building on the inside of the glass.
Built in the unglamorous shadow
of a junction in the périphérique, Paris's orbital motorway, the Hôtel
Industriel is part of an attempt to prevent the loss of industry from the
city to out-of-town sites. It houses about forty small industrial
businesses, as well as Perrault's own office.
Simon Glynn, 2001
How to visit
Rue Bruneseau runs south from
boulevard Masséna, cutting beneath the périphérique between Porte
d'Ivry and Porte de Bercy.
Take the RER to Boulevard
Masséna (line C), and head south to cross first the railway line and then
boulevard Masséna (a fast, multilane road, but with traffic light
crossings).
Alternatively, but involving a
longer walk, take the Metro to Porte d'Ivry (line 7) and head east along
the boulevard Masséna; rue Bruneseau runs to your right immediately after
crossing the railway line.
The building can be seen from
the outside, but is a working building not open to the public.