As Twitchy reported in April, France declared that it would hold an international architects’ competition to rebuild the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral, which collapsed during the great fire that destroyed much of the historic cathedral, which the AP helpfully reminded us wasn’t just a tourist mecca but also “revered as a place of worship” by many.
We were all for the idea of rebuilding Notre Dame exactly as it stood, but as we feared, architects are now woke and would propose some really dumb ideas to bring the cathedral into modern times.
We honestly looked up the World Architecture Community to see if it was a parody account, but no, it’s real:
UMA proposes swimming pool at the roof of Notre-Dame as "a new meditative public space": https://t.co/4xLqPisYcy #notredame #paris pic.twitter.com/FyvOsoaeqW
— World Architecture (@WACommunity) May 13, 2019
UMA stands for Ulf Mejergren Architects, a Stockholm-based architecture firm (why keep the project in-house when you could outsource it to Sweden?) and their concept “draws attention more to ‘publicness’ of the cathedral and a giant swimming pool spans the whole structure as ‘a new meditative space with unmatched views over Paris.'”
The rendering is nice, but we want to see the whole thing with beach balls and water slides before we make up our minds.
My new theory is that architects are mad that we love old buildings and are actively trying to sabotage the fundraising with these stupid plans https://t.co/P87jQV4q2m
— Rogue Works Progress Administration (@GabrielRossman) May 14, 2019
— Rogue Penguin (@Rogue_40) May 14, 2019
When I think of a meditative space, I imagine an enormous public rooftop pool
— Alex Khurgin (@akhurgin) May 14, 2019
That's one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard! ?
— James ✝️?? (@wjamesawill) May 14, 2019
Not The Onion, wow.
— Gabe de Vega (@gdevega) May 14, 2019
How about we restore history and be respectful of Catholicism? That would be ideal.
— Lexi Salty (@alexisissalty) May 14, 2019
Can't wait until they mount a Ferris wheel on the side.
— Mimi Áine Sophie. ? (@MimiBalguerie) May 14, 2019
Can I bid on the cabana concession?
— Robert Meadows (@robertmeadows) May 14, 2019
I'd like to hear UMA's ideas for the temple at Angkor Wat and the Hagia Sophia. Hey, why not put in a tennis court next to the Dome of the Rock while they're at it?
— The Knights Of Ren Who Say Ni (@lazypadawan) May 14, 2019
This is just supremely silly
— Magic Bullet Biotech (@magicbulletbio) May 14, 2019
Oh, so glad they want to keep this religious centre of the Catholic world holy. Go get lost, UMA.
— Ingeborg ? (@IngeborgRakvag) May 14, 2019
— Shelley Heile (@SHHeile) May 14, 2019
Yeh.. let’s take a iconic building and forget that it “is” a place of Christian holiness.
— Michael… Mike (@DIndebt) May 13, 2019
Well as long as we’re not attention seeking or anything
— Chop Shop (@Chopshop2011) May 14, 2019
This is a great idea…if you are a dragonfly.
— Steve Windsor (@NYCTelegraph) May 14, 2019
The roof of Notre-Dame has an area of 2000 sq metres, Assuming a depth of 1.5 metres, the water in this pool would weigh 3000 metric tonnes. Oh, but I'm sure the designers worked out all the engineering details before making their proposal public.
— ΧΡΙΣΤΌΦΟΡΟΣ bɝːd (@christopherburd) May 14, 2019
Notre-Dame’s exterior wall structure was to be reinforced; adding water weight at the roof may collapse the strained flying buttresses. Additional support systems would be essential to carry lateral and vertical loads of this pool/roof.
— Teresa Lockhart Buks (@TLockhartBuks) May 13, 2019
You'd think architects would be aware of this, but none of the ghastly suggestions I've seen seem to have taken it into account, it's all about the pretty graphics and multi-culti repurposing. Depressing.
— Slinbag ??????? ??????ن (@SlinbagTheGreat) May 14, 2019
Pardon my French, and no pun intended, but this remodeling thing is one big je+k off competition.
— Yohanan Domnius (@bendomnius) May 14, 2019
This is the worst idea i have ever heard in my life and I remember Crystal Pepsi.
— Claymore Pictures (@claymorepic) May 14, 2019
It already is a meditative public space. Just put the roof back on.
— Eleanor Knight (@EleanorMKnight) May 14, 2019
Exactly.
Related:
Competition to redesign Notre Dame Cathedral an ‘extraordinary opportunity’ — for wokeness https://t.co/WFzE0BINHK
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 20, 2019
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