PYRAMIDE
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Abidjan's iconic brutalist pyramid building, now abandoned. Street art frescoes have been coloring its facades since 2023.
In the heart of the Plateau district, La Pyramide is an iconic building in Abidjan, a work of Brutalist art imagined by Italian architect Rinaldo Olivieri between 1968 and 1973. This architectural movement placed great importance on the aesthetics of geometric structure and the raw material, concrete. At the time, it symbolized the prosperity of the "Ivorian miracle", driven by the coffee-cocoa binomial. Its retro-futuristic avant-gardism and singular pyramidal shape make it one of the most surprising buildings on Abidjan's urban skyline.
The 12-storey building's pyramidal concrete columns contrast with its vertical circulation space. Adapting to tropical climatic conditions, the façade's bay windows are protected by aluminum panels that act as sunshades. Inside, an impressive staircase takes the form of an open tunnel, recalling the aesthetics of 1960s science-fiction films.
Unfortunately, the building's small leasable area, voracious energy consumption and high maintenance costs precipitated its desertion. Now derelict, it is in need of renovation. To bring it back to life and celebrate its 50th anniversary, the "Pyramide 2023, demain est déjà né" project has given free rein to six European and Ivorian street art artists to create colorful frescoes on its facades: Katre, Dourone, Issa Diabaté, Pascal Konan, Amah Cynthia Dongo and Annick Lia. They will be visible until the building is refurbished.
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Quel dommage il héberge désormais les chauves souris qui sortent à la nuit tombante.
A voir por son architecture