La Coupole (Paris)

The owners of this brasserie, Rene Lafon and Ernest Fraux, built the structure in nineteen twenty seven with a very specific structural challenge. They insisted on a massive main room without a single supporting pillar to obstruct the view of the dancers or the performers. To achieve this, the architects buried the building deeper into the ground than usual to accommodate the heavy reinforced concrete beams required to hold the ceiling up, creating a vast, open subterranean hall that remains one of the largest dining rooms in Paris.