Place Georges Pompidou

You are standing in the Place Georges Pompidou, the open plaza that serves as the dynamic front porch to one of the most polarizing buildings in Paris. When this space was first designed, the architects made the radical decision to leave half of the available land empty to create a public square. This choice was intended to offer the city a democratic, anti-monumental gathering place, a stark contrast to the closed-off, aristocratic palaces that historically defined Parisian culture.