Elyse Sewell ([info]elysesewell) wrote,
2006-08-04 18:00:00
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bibliothèque wrecka

Today I went to look at the François Mitterand Library, a notorious example of the triumph of architectural form over function.

The books are stored in four towers (are they supposed to be book-shaped? Tacky!), connected only by subterranean passageways surrounding a central "forest" atrium. All of the reading rooms, cafes, and public areas are stashed below ground, overlooking the "forest."



If you want to read a book at the François Mitterand Library, you must first use a computer kiosk to request a numeric reading desk assignment, and print out a reading room admission ticket. You insert your admission ticket into a turnstile outside the reading room, and then use the computerized library catalog to select your book (no shelf browsing- remember all the books are stored in the four towers). Once you've chosen a book, you enter a request into the computer system, whereupon some library minion scurries off into whatever distant tower contains your book, retrieves it, and delivers it to your reading desk. I've only read about this process; I couldn't experience it. Without a library card, I was unable to obtain a desk assignment and reading room admission ticket. Without an admission ticket, I was unable to go through the turnstiles to gain access to the reading rooms. Each reading room has its own security guard sagging unattractively on a metal chair outside the door; I walked around the library until I identified the saggiest and most listless-looking of them all, then tried to sneak in the exit door of the reading room when her back was turned. No dice: I was foiled immediately by a crisp, "Excusez-moi, mademoiselle!"

So I just skulked around in the lobby, waiting to get kicked out for sartorially clashing with the bauhaus.




Then I went to see the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy, a building I've seen from the window of a bus but never inspected up close. That's living sod on the outside; it looks so awesome!








And finally, a subway advertisement for a Mexican singer's series of concerts. I am unreasonably attracted to this poster, but evidently there's at least one subway vandal who disagrees with me.




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[info]geethatwasdumb

August 4 2006, 16:06:31 UTC 5 years ago

can you roll down that sod! can you!?!?!

[info]elysesewell

August 4 2006, 16:07:43 UTC 5 years ago

It's SO steep. I nearly broke my neck on that sod!

[info]suckerpunchme

5 years ago

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[info]elysesewell

5 years ago

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[info]shoukinkasegi

5 years ago

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[info]10zlaine

5 years ago

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[info]geethatwasdumb

5 years ago

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[info]elysesewell

5 years ago

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[info]utopiarebel

5 years ago

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[info]suckerpunchme

5 years ago

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...and 3 more comments... from Anonymous, [info]flowerarranging, [info]suckerpunchme Expand

[info]mcsweeneyfiend

5 years ago

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[info]bratzworld

5 years ago

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[info]vee_loves_you

August 4 2006, 16:06:46 UTC 5 years ago


elysese! i love your pictures! i learn so much about where you live that i could never learn otherwise. you take such interesting photographs!

[info]artistatlarge

August 4 2006, 16:09:30 UTC 5 years ago

That is indeed a super-awesome poster.

*craves*

[info]elysesewell

August 4 2006, 16:12:09 UTC 5 years ago

It almost makes you forget it's a mariachi singer and buy tickets to the concert, doesn't it?

[info]angleburn1

5 years ago

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Anonymous

5 years ago

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[info]artistatlarge

5 years ago

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[info]squata_hey

August 4 2006, 16:09:59 UTC 5 years ago

I want to set up a little picnic on the sod and watch the potato salad sliding off of my plate.

[info]tinasucks

August 4 2006, 16:11:32 UTC 5 years ago

Maricon hahaha.
that's an awesome poster

Anonymous

August 4 2006, 16:12:50 UTC 5 years ago

All those angles at the sod building are disorienting. And your camera angle makes for a dizzying photo. Very interesting.

[info]hotpinknoise

August 4 2006, 16:14:19 UTC 5 years ago

oh, yes..they are supposed to look like books :)

[info]etralos

August 4 2006, 16:16:48 UTC 5 years ago

Well, the vandal was right. He does look like a Maricon. I should know. I am the king of them!

Anonymous

August 4 2006, 18:15:22 UTC 5 years ago

you look like a doosped polepincher.

[info]etralos

5 years ago

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[info]_mytimetoshine_

August 4 2006, 16:18:25 UTC 5 years ago

MmMMmmmMmmmm...

Spanish profanity.

I've had a rather disorienting experience with that shit.

[info]fading_shadows

August 4 2006, 16:19:50 UTC 5 years ago

That bibliothèque could so be turned into a metaphor for the French take on life

[info]ohyourgod

August 4 2006, 16:20:20 UTC 5 years ago

Apparently they haven't learned the Spanish word for "metrosexual."

[info]grammars

August 4 2006, 16:21:49 UTC 5 years ago

The colors in the pictures of the Palais Omnisports Bercy building are so vivid that it looks like a digital drawing or something.. Not a real photograph! Wow. :)

Anonymous

August 4 2006, 18:12:34 UTC 5 years ago

reality in this day of age? ha
whowould buy that?

[info]grammars

5 years ago

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[info]quaintlyinsane

August 4 2006, 16:24:02 UTC 5 years ago

Maricón seems to describe him perfectly.

[info]ilovetulips

August 4 2006, 16:25:36 UTC 5 years ago

I'm certain that you've mentioned it elsewhere, but...

what kind of camera do you use?

[info]ilovetulips

August 4 2006, 16:26:39 UTC 5 years ago

Re: I'm certain that you've mentioned it elsewhere, but...

Oops. I just checked your profile!

Got it!

[info]any_kind_is_ok

5 years ago

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[info]sneakymonkey

August 4 2006, 16:28:35 UTC 5 years ago

Dude. You get to do the kind of international romping that some of us can only dream of.

I would TOTALLY be rolling down that sod. I'd be the sod on the sod.

If I haven't said before, it's a real treat reading your journal, even the horrific roommate stories. Your writing's sharp, the photos gorgeous... makes me wish I had all the money in the world so I could buy random people pints in pubs across the world.

[info]moroccomole

August 4 2006, 16:35:13 UTC 5 years ago

Pierre et Gilles have that one gimmick, and they're going to ride it until we can't take it anymore.

[info]elysesewell

August 4 2006, 16:45:17 UTC 5 years ago

I have googled Pierre et Gilles and found you to be correct indeed:

[info]kittymalicious

5 years ago

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[info]10zlaine

5 years ago

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[info]subzero_fun

5 years ago

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[info]moroccomole

5 years ago

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[info]joaneebonee

August 4 2006, 16:39:23 UTC 5 years ago

I'm so jealous. I need to stop reading this at work. =P

Love your timer pix. Priceless.

[info]cecile

August 4 2006, 16:56:08 UTC 5 years ago

Not all the books are in the towers, I go to that library a lot and in the reading rooms there are thousand of books, you can browse !

There are two different kinds of reading rooms there : the "reference library" and the "research library". The books in the towers are only for people who have "research" cards, but anybody over 18 can go to the regular reading rooms.

You should go during weekends, it's free (until August 13th)

[info]elysesewell

August 4 2006, 17:17:34 UTC 5 years ago

How do you get an admission ticket for the turnstiles? I used the computer kiosk in the library to make a user profile, but I couldn't print a ticket because I didn't have a "carte" number (which I only assumed was a library card number).

I had no idea that it cost money on any day!

[info]cecile

5 years ago

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[info]the_ma

5 years ago

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[info]lolitard

August 4 2006, 16:58:02 UTC 5 years ago

At the university library where I used to work, there was a book-retrieval robot adjacent to my customer service hobbit hole. Countless times a day it would go "WHUZZZZZZZZZZ" as huge metal pistons or whatever were given box coordinates to grab, in a surprisingly fast process. I think everyone knew it was just one of those things the Dean requested so he could look cool in his fancy new lib'ary.

[info]pinkspider_x

August 4 2006, 17:04:15 UTC 5 years ago

Bibliotheque is my favourite French word, so I was ecstatic to see it beaming at me from my friends list.

I think my favourite thing about the photos of yourself is the fact that I know you take them with a timer. Thinking of you running to your ideal pose on French sod, while the camera beeps away makes me hysterical.

[info]cradleoffilm

August 26 2006, 02:10:04 UTC 5 years ago

Bibliotheque

Bibliotheque is also the name of my fave design studio. and hey, how are you?

[info]pinkspider_x

5 years ago

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[info]cradleoffilm

5 years ago

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Anonymous

August 4 2006, 17:18:00 UTC 5 years ago

Strangely familiar

That sod covered building would have looked strangely familiar if you had visited the Page Musuem/La Brea Tar Pits while you were in Los Angeles. Can't figure out how to post a picture of it - sorry. Here's a link, though: http://www.tarpits.org/info/visit.html

[info]noromdiam

August 4 2006, 17:25:08 UTC 5 years ago

I went to UCSD, and talk about form over function. The Geisel (of Dr. Seuss) library is this strange UFO looking thing. But the architect who designed it didn't take into account the weight of the books, shelves, and people. They spent a few years to retrofit the thing to make it structurally sound.

[info]astodadf

August 12 2006, 02:24:53 UTC 5 years ago

good old geisel...

[info]thewildflower

August 4 2006, 17:31:02 UTC 5 years ago

But...but...book-browsing is half the fun!

[info]joanan69

August 4 2006, 17:35:43 UTC 5 years ago

Can you imagine mowing that sod?? Seems like some serious hardwork!

Anonymous

August 4 2006, 18:03:14 UTC 5 years ago

not as hard as beingphotographed

Anonymous

August 4 2006, 17:43:41 UTC 5 years ago

Elyse, do you or do you want to buy clothes all the time, living in Paris? It seems like it would be hard to resist, especially being a model.

-Michelle

Anonymous

August 4 2006, 18:01:25 UTC 5 years ago

it digstoo much into her hard cheez budget
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