Tribunal de Paris

The Tribunal de Paris is a massive glass stack that towers over the Batignolles neighborhood, composed of four stacked blocks that shrink in size as they rise. It replaced the cramped, historic courthouse on the Ile de la Cite, which had served the city since the Middle Ages. In its first year, the elevators failed constantly, leaving judges and lawyers stuck between floors. Some staff members had to climb twenty flights of stairs to reach their courtrooms in those opening months.