Located in the Parc de la Villette in Paris is the biggest science museum in Europe. The Cite des Sciences was designed by the architect Adrien Fainsilber who won the National Prize of Architecture in 1986. A competition was launched in 1980 in which 27 architects entered their designs for A National Museum of Science.
Constructed on the site of a former abattoir which closed in 1974, the museum building was opened in 1986. The three themes of the design are water, vegetation and light. The museum features a facade with vegetation present inside the building.
The building incorporates the vast steel trusses of the former abattoir.
Filed under: 20th Century Architecture, France: Paris
