Urban development in Lille (FR)

[Jacques Pochoy]

Really great shots of Lille (or should I say Euralille  )! The Portzamparc's "chaussure de ski" seems to fade a bit with time...
The Mama building is new (I haven't seen it yet in live). Lille Métropole is getting quite interesting nowadays. Too bad for the Covid (I missed the "Braderie" this year  ) so no "moules frites" for me...

[Airy]

Somr more, same place, mixing old, recent, and new. Df, 50/2 AI.

[Airy]

Reflective ceilings have become fashion, it seems. First time I noticed these was in Marseille, Vieux Port.

An interesting thing with those bricks is, there are three pattern scales : the joints as usual (meso), the arrangement of bricks (macro), and then the surface pattern (micro), that seem to imitate shale or similar stones. That brings sense into brickwall shooting.

[Airy]

The faceless take revenge

[Jacques Pochoy]

Great series 
The one mixing old and new is really a picture for a cover of a magazine on urbanism !!! And the brick wall with it's three "scales" is a great reminder of what we teach in architecture 

A peaceful set of Lille...

[pluton]

I have enjoyed this series. Lille has been laid out and constructed with much more aesthetic sense than many/most American cities.

[Nasos Kosmas]

 Very nice series, I like very much the straight lines of 50/2 and the rendering of the DF
But most of all is the eye of the photographer

[Akira]

#5570, #5576 and the very last one look great to me.

I would echo Keith with regard to Tokyo.

[Airy]

The one mixing old and new is really a picture for a cover of a magazine on urbanism !!! And the brick wall with it's three "scales" is a great reminder of what we teach in architecture 

I hope we can meet some day in Lille, with your students too... At any rate, while neither Madame nor I could ever sympathize with the ski boot, we both feel attracted by the recent constructions.

As Akira quotes, "Limitation is inspiration". In the present case, the architect(s) apparently had to do something in a relatively cramped space, integrate with listed buildings (monuments historiques), and probably much less money than in the heydays of Lille, a city that gave two ministers to the French govt. and sure got something in return. There may or may not be the same level of techical prowess, but probably more imagination at work. I still have to discover the "inside" though.

[Airy]

Very nice series, I like very much the straight lines of 50/2 and the rendering of the DF
But most of all is the eye of the photographer

Efcharisto. By the way, the 50/1.8 AI is even straighter, but unfortunately I never made good buys (one was decentered and returned, the last one needs infinity tuning and I'm not good at that...). If really needed, I still have the 55/2.8 and Zeiss 50/2 in reserve, both with minimal barrel.

[Airy]

I have enjoyed this series. Lille has been laid out and constructed with much more aesthetic sense than many/most American cities.

Thanks Keith and Akira. What you say about Lille was not always the case, and there were many destructions due to wars, but on the whole it's not too bad. Biggest issue is excessive density of the inner city that had to grow inside its walls (once again, due to military strategic issues), turning canals into sewage, driving its poorest population into the basements, and kicking the gardens and public parks outside. That took place, roughly, from 1858 to 1918.

[John Geerts]

Great series, Airy. The 50/2 Ai shines.  Should use my 50/2 Ai  more when viewing your results.

[Jacques Pochoy]

I hope we can meet some day in Lille, with your students too... At any rate, while neither Madame nor I could ever sympathize with the ski boot, we both feel attracted by the recent constructions.

As Akira quotes, "Limitation is inspiration". In the present case, the architect(s) apparently had to do something in a relatively cramped space, integrate with listed buildings (monuments historiques), and probably much less money than in the heydays of Lille, a city that gave two ministers to the French govt. and sure got something in return. There may or may not be the same level of techical prowess, but probably more imagination at work. I still have to discover the "inside" though.

Ah...We'll need to get rid of the Covid thingy before  I guess that Lille's historical background does help with the "new wave" of architects, keen at working with the actual surroundings. At the nearby district of Lomme, or in Fives, most of the renewal work is about sustainability and using most of the historical factories without breaking the down... It helps keeping the old within the new 

[Airy]

Given the combined disadvantages of full-time telecommuting and social distancing, I force myself to a daily walk (4-5km) to try and stay in a reasonably good shape. So the series continued today, this time with my lens for dull days, the Summicron-R 50/2 (II). Fully manual operation, including the closure of the diaphragm.

On the other hand, that lens offers, as usual, exquisite rendering. Since I am using Capture NX-D, I cannot correct the moderate barrel distortion, but apart from that, the Summicron is extraordinarily clean from wide open. Just for the sake of comparison, this uninteresting shot was taken at f/8 and f/2:

[Airy]

Now back to the subject. These are the surroundings of the Parc Matisse, extending over a former no-man's land at the foot of the XVIIth century city walls (the city also kept some other walls from other centuries). This is how you get a green patch and big urban development projects in the middle of a crowded area. The army gave up the lands in the early nineties.

The big "concrete" block on the right of the first picture is actually a dump for excavation waste. It is now topped by unaccessible bushes and trees, a "jungle" so to say, where not even dealers can take refuge, but birds are happy.