Paris rising

The culture of Paris has never lacked dynamism, but has occasionally fallen back. However now the new Cite de la Mode et du Design close by the Gare d’Austerlitz designed by architects Jakob Macfarlane has made as big an impact on the city as did the IM Pei Pyramid at the Louvre (1980). This new green-glazed, lateral building snakes along the riverside. It certainly will challenge the Design Museum in London, even more so if that institution actually moves to a refurbished Commonwealth Institute, as has been mooted. Given the different city approach of London to Paris, it indeed looks as if it might well have been designed to front along the Thames Embankment. Three Cheers for Paris, at last.