Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

Tornado column

Lyon is located at the confluence of two rivers: the Saône and the Rhône. And where these two rivers physically merge in the south is a neighborhood called La Confluence:

A former industrial area and urban renewal project since 1999, La Confluence is now home to world-class architecture, a broad mix of uses, and a club called Le Sucre.

The most important piece of architecture is probably the Musée des Confluences, which was designed by the Austrian firm Coop Himmeb(l)au. It is situated at the very southern tip of La Confluence.

And at the very south end of the museum is this column:

It feels like the exact right place for a column like this.

3 responses to “Tornado column”

  1. Artyom Kuzovkin Avatar
    Artyom Kuzovkin

    The column looks marvelous, but the “urban” graffiti is not!

  2. AM Avatar
    AM

    I went there 2016 and found the musée des confluences to be extremely disappointing. In typical deconstructivist fashion, it is more sculpture than architecture and not very good at being that either.

    In a short 10 or so years, it has not aged well, so I fear for the next 50 to 100 years of its life, if it manages to survive that long.

    At least some of its brethren have the merit of being photogenic and iconic. This one looks like a turd from any angle.

    I can’t wait for deconstructivist architecture to die its well deserved death. It’s been a plague in too many cities across the world, including Toronto (ROM crystal anyone?).

  3. Michael Geller Avatar

    Am I the only one who only sees the appalling graffiti in this photo, and on beautiful buildings throughout Europe?

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