The Centre Pompidou

The Centre Pompidou arrived in Paris as a jarring experiment in high-tech design. When the building opened in 1977, critics and locals were baffled by its radical appearance, with some comparing the industrial structure to a crude oil refinery or a gas factory. Because the architects chose to place all the building’s functional infrastructure on the outside, the interior became a completely unobstructed, flexible space. This inside-out approach allowed the museum to move its massive pipes, air ducts, and even its primary staircase to the exterior, leaving the vast floors entirely free for ever-changing art installations.