Le gratte-ciel à Paris au début des années 1930 : discours et représentations

Abstract

The Skyscraper in Paris in the Early 1930s : Discourses and Representations. After the First World War, the debate on devastated cities involves a new reflection on high-rise architecture. Activating multiple discourses held as well by municipal authorities, than by urban planners and architects, the debate on the height is the opportunity to ideological disputes, which degree of rationality fluctuates, in particular to the identity and modernity. In a competitive climate which opposes European metropolises between them and observes the Americanism’s expansion, how does the idea of a “French tower” is formulated ? The emergence of conflicting communities of thought, the testing of consensus on the urban question and the first imagined projects - in particular at the occasion of the Rosenthal competitions and the “Voie triomphale” - are then relayed by specialized publications, which are a useful way to identify nuances, even differences in the ideological and doctrinal speeches.