Karol ...
Architecture, Paris - May 1980
Les Halles, was Paris' central fresh food market. It was demolished in 1971 and replaced by the Westfield Forum des Halles, a modern shopping mall built largely underground and directly connected to the massive RER and métro transit hub of Châtelet–Les Halles. The shopping mall welcomes 150,000 visitors daily.
A major reconstruction of the mall was undertaken in 2010, and the new version of the Forum des Halles was inaugurated in 2018. The 2.5 hectare Canopy was opened on 5 April 2016. In 2017, the Forum des Halles was the second most visited shopping mall in the Paris region with 42 million yearly visitors.
History
In the eleventh century, a market grew up by a cemetery to the north-west of Paris in an area called the Little Fields (Champeaux). This was mainly a dry goods and money changing market. A bishop briefly took control of the market before sharing control with Louis VI in 1137. In 1183, Philip Augustus took full control of the market and built two market halls - halles - to protect the textiles. He also built walls around the market, including land which had recently been confiscated from exiled Jews. When he then built walls around the city, these embraced the market, which quickly became the city's largest (and, over time, went from being at the edge of the city to at its centre). Officially, it would remain a dry goods market for centuries, but food stalls soon grew up around the main buildings and by the fifteenth century food prices at les Halles were being cited as significant for the whole city.
The market would have ups and downs over the coming centuries and was rebuilt more than once. Over time, an increasing number of halls were built explicitly for food, but the dry goods market remained central to the (increasingly cramped) space.
Unable to compete in the new market economy and in need of massive repairs, the colourful ambience once associated with the bustling area of merchant stalls disappeared in 1971, when Les Halles was dismantled; the wholesale market was relocated to the suburb of Rungis.
The Forum des Halles, a partially underground multiple story commercial and shopping centre, designed by Claude Vasconi and Georges Pencreac'h, opened at the east end of the site on September 4, 1979 in presence of the Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac, and remains there today. A public garden covering four hectares opened in 1986. Many of the surrounding streets were pedestrianized.
TD : Kodak Tri-X Pan 400 ISO 35mm film, developed in D-76 1+1 for 9,45 minutes. Exposure ISO 100 @35mm lens, ambient light. Scanned with Alpha 6000 edited in ACR, inverted in CS6.
Architecture, Paris - May 1980
Les Halles, was Paris' central fresh food market. It was demolished in 1971 and replaced by the Westfield Forum des Halles, a modern shopping mall built largely underground and directly connected to the massive RER and métro transit hub of Châtelet–Les Halles. The shopping mall welcomes 150,000 visitors daily.
A major reconstruction of the mall was undertaken in 2010, and the new version of the Forum des Halles was inaugurated in 2018. The 2.5 hectare Canopy was opened on 5 April 2016. In 2017, the Forum des Halles was the second most visited shopping mall in the Paris region with 42 million yearly visitors.
History
In the eleventh century, a market grew up by a cemetery to the north-west of Paris in an area called the Little Fields (Champeaux). This was mainly a dry goods and money changing market. A bishop briefly took control of the market before sharing control with Louis VI in 1137. In 1183, Philip Augustus took full control of the market and built two market halls - halles - to protect the textiles. He also built walls around the market, including land which had recently been confiscated from exiled Jews. When he then built walls around the city, these embraced the market, which quickly became the city's largest (and, over time, went from being at the edge of the city to at its centre). Officially, it would remain a dry goods market for centuries, but food stalls soon grew up around the main buildings and by the fifteenth century food prices at les Halles were being cited as significant for the whole city.
The market would have ups and downs over the coming centuries and was rebuilt more than once. Over time, an increasing number of halls were built explicitly for food, but the dry goods market remained central to the (increasingly cramped) space.
Unable to compete in the new market economy and in need of massive repairs, the colourful ambience once associated with the bustling area of merchant stalls disappeared in 1971, when Les Halles was dismantled; the wholesale market was relocated to the suburb of Rungis.
The Forum des Halles, a partially underground multiple story commercial and shopping centre, designed by Claude Vasconi and Georges Pencreac'h, opened at the east end of the site on September 4, 1979 in presence of the Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac, and remains there today. A public garden covering four hectares opened in 1986. Many of the surrounding streets were pedestrianized.
TD : Kodak Tri-X Pan 400 ISO 35mm film, developed in D-76 1+1 for 9,45 minutes. Exposure ISO 100 @35mm lens, ambient light. Scanned with Alpha 6000 edited in ACR, inverted in CS6.