Gironde’s contemporary heritage

The Cité Frugès (1924-1926) in Pessac is the work of Le Corbusier and was designed as a workers’ estate. It was the first experiment in implementing an overall housing theory that encompassed town-planning, construction techniques and aesthetic criteria.

In the 1930s, the Art Deco style was to gain considerable popularity in Bordeaux under the impetus of the mayor of the day, Adrien Marquet. The modern design of the Labour Exchange, the “Judaïque” swimming pool and the Chaban-Delmas stadium harmonises well with the city’s classical architecture.

Bordeaux’s High Court was built between 1994 and 1998, and its design – seven wooden shells containing the courtrooms and resting on cushions of raw concrete – never fails to tantalise visitors.

Many elegant new wine storehouses and vat-houses have been built in the vineyards since the 1980s, often the work of major contemporary architects (Ricardo Bofill in the case of the Lafite Rothschild storehouses). Some reproduce the neo-classical architecture of bygone days while others (Prieuré-Lichine and Pichon-Longueville-Baron, for example) are more innovative.