Courthouse
Ateliers Jean Nouvel. Nantes, France
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Name of work in English
Courthouse
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Name of work in original language
Palais de Justice
Prize year
EUmies Awards 2001
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Work Location
Nantes, France
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Studio
Ateliers Jean Nouvel
EUmies Awards 2001 Architecture finalists
Collaborators
Program
Government & Civic
Completion
2000
In official architecture, power is represented. The judicial area of a city is a representation of the power of Justice. The image of justice is involved here: in terms of symbols and of character, the image of public buildings is a heritage of signs that cannot be disturbed without risk. The architecture proposed here is the actualization of this heritage. I have just tried to define a just architecture with justness. From the most distant reading & of the town from the other bank &, to the detailing of the interior spaces, via the inevitable façade. An attempt at architectural composition, of objectification. The shift from the meaning of words to built signs, around notions of justness, rightness, equity, equilibrium, dignity, character, and the definition of these words, causes other words, other concepts, to intersect. And so I offer the pertinence of the proposed project & submitted to successive siftings of these superimposed meanings & to your judgment.