THE ARCHITECTURE
Designed as an "evolving spatial diagram" by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, the architecture of the Centre Pompidou boasts a series of technical characteristics that make it unique. Its originality comes first from the flexible use of large interior plateaux of 7,500 m2 , each completely free, with an easily modifiable layout. Using steel (15,000 tons) and glass (11,000 m² of glass surface), the builders created a major pioneering building back in the 70s, in a country more used at the time to visions in concrete. The building of the Centre Pompidou, in its use of glass and steel, is also heir to the great iron constructions of the Industrial Age, from Paxton's Crystal Palace, but also futuristic in many ways. A prototype in all respects, it lines up with the architectural utopias of Archigram and Superstudio in the 60s.
BUILDING STRUCTURE
The metal frame consists of 14 portal frames supporting 13 transverse members, each spanning 48m and set 12.80m apart. Eight-meter-long, 10-tonne moulded steel members known as "stirrup straps" are fixed to the posts at each level.
The 45-meter-long beams rest on these stirrup straps, which transfer the loads to the posts and are balanced by tie beams anchored in stay plates. Each storey is 7m high floor to floor. The glass and steel superstructure encloses the large multipurpose spaces, which are designed to be fully modular and adjustable to changing usages.