Lyon, France 11.01.07

Beautiful city, large central park, and nice architecture. Looking down on the tight urban fabric, you can imagine the traboules (passages) winding their way from building to building. Nouvel's semi-circular Opera House to the right.

Traboules: click a button at the door for access (trial and error), into a tiny courtyard and up the winding stair. Amazing color and light.

Another opens up to spacious terracing courtyards, access to several buildings, 2 sets of circular stairs, one with a prominent tower.

The traboules are actually quite the tourist attraction, heavly romaticized in the guidebooks, telling of silk trade stories and excaping invaders through the secret passages. Here are several popular ones, and a parking garage (right). Interestingly, for every amazing passage, there are probably 50 unglamorous traboules, dark and unkept, filled with trash, and potentially dangerous (per Asti). It will be interesting to understand the evolution of these, more common, passages.

Lyon has an ambitous urban lighting plan. In keeping up with the Jones (Paris), it even has a mini Eifel tower. Though a bit Disneylandish, the city was quite lively at night, even dispite the really cold temps. The riverfront with tons of joggers and kiddies playing in the sandboxes, feels very safe and inviting. One can imagine night festivals in the warmth of summer.

I hate to see the energy bill. One positive lesson might be: the strategic placement of necessary lighting and architecture can also serve to promote a night atmosphere. The underground parking garage lights up the river banks quite elegantly.

Hasn't stopped the grafitti, still a big problem in nearly all the cities we've visited.

Piano's incredible Cite International: huge project, 20+ buildings, along central pedestrian avenue. Seems to have all the right elements, pedestrain friendly, mixed-use (housing, office, retail on ground floor, underground parking, movie theater, museums, and even government buildings), next to beautiful city park... But, I got the sense that it wasn't the success it could have been. I didn't see that many people there, there were lot's of 'for lease' signs on the retail windows, and - I could be wrong but - the units seemed vacant. Perhaps it needed its own metro line, maybe there isn't enough individuality among the buildings, or it just needs more time to generate its character. Anyone know if my assumptions were off and this really is the ideal urban high-density model it aims to be?

At the end of the mini-cite: the spaceship has landed! beam me up Renzo.

On the opposite end of Lyon, the void to Piano's solid: Roman amplitheatre ruins.