Postmodernism Lost: Revealing the Remnants of a Utopian Dream in Paris

The emptiness and muted lighting of each scene creates a wistful atmosphere.

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Glittering landmarks by big-name firms have dominated the headlines in the French capital in recent times, with Frank Gehry’s Louis Vuitton Foundation and Jean Nouvel’s Philharmonie de Paris very much in the public eye. However, architectural monuments of a very different kind have been at the center of Laurent Kronental’s life: the photographer has spent the past four years exploring Paris’ vast housing estates constructed during the 1970s and ‘80s, including Ricardo Bofill’s postmodern Les Espaces d’Abraxas at Noisey-le-Grand and Émile Aillaud’s multi-chromatic Cité Pablo Picasso at Nanterre.

Josette, 90 ans, Vision 80, Esplanade de La Défense, 2013; image © Laurent Kronental

Jacques, 82 ans, Le Viaduc et les Arcades du Lac, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, 2015; image © Laurent Kronental

Les Orgues de Flandre, 19e arrondissement Paris, 2014; image © Laurent Kronental

The resulting images were collated in a series Kronental entitled “Souvenir d’un Futur” (memory of a future). These surreal, faintly melancholy scenes juxtapose monumental, postmodern and neoclassical environments with the last remaining inhabitants that moved in when the buildings were first constructed — a population of elders seemingly lost amid structures of immense scale and eerie beauty.

Jean, 89 ans, Puteaux-La Défense, 2011; image © Laurent Kronental

Denise, 81 ans, Cité Spinoza, Ivry-sur-Seine, 2015; image © Laurent Kronental

Joseph, 88 ans, Les Espaces d’Abraxas, Noisy-le-Grand, 2014; image © Laurent Kronental

Le Pavé Neuf, Noisy-le-Grand, 2015; image © Laurent Kronental

In a recent essay for Dezeen, the photographer reflected on the polarizing nature of the architecture: “These large housing projects are often criticized, they fascinate or bother but leave no one indifferent. Their size reminds me of Colossus. There is an unsettling paradox of life and void. Multifaceted social housing projects; sometimes deserted, sometimes filled with life.”

José, 89 ans, Les Damiers, Courbevoie, 2012; image © Laurent Kronental

Jean-Claude, 82 ans, Les Espaces d’Abraxas, Noisy-le-Grand, 2014; image © Laurent Kronental

Les Tours Aillaud, Cité Pablo Picasso, Nanterre, 2014; image © Laurent Kronental

The emptiness and muted lighting of each scene creates a wistful atmosphere, capturing the essence of what Kronental describes as an “unsettling paradox of life and void … In this magnificent and ghostly world, the structures of our cities would be titanic and gobble the human — the product of our fears and hopes for the organization of the city.”

For more memories of the Postmodern, look back at the paintings, photographs and drawings of the fascinating exhibition “Mission: Postmodern” at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt, Germany.

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Author: Paul Keskeys

Paul Keskeys is Editor in Chief at Architizer. An architect-trained editor, writer and content creator, Paul graduated from UCL and the University of Edinburgh, gaining an MArch in Architectural Design with distinction. Paul has spoken about the art of architecture and storytelling at many national industry events, including AIANY, NeoCon, KBIS, the Future NOW Symposium, the Young Architect Conference and NYCxDesign. As well as hundreds of editorial publications on Architizer, Paul has also had features published in Architectural Digest, PIN—UP Magazine, Archinect, Aesthetica Magazine and PUBLIC Journal.