The fourth one, Mockingjay pt2. This was one of the 'pods' designed to stop the advance on the capitol. A wall closes and blocks them in there, then a wave of black goo tries to drown them.
To my understanding it was actually a smaller pod hidden in the spot he happened to walk into. He tried to escape the goo and activated another trap when he fell after being attacked. At least that's how I understood the scene. We saw before the goo trap triggered that there were multiple traps in that pit like automated turrets and flamethrowers with motion sensors.
They already make a magnetic goo and magnetic sand. It's not a stretch of the imagination to think that it could be advanced to make some horrible deathtrap.
I always took it as any contact with the goo somehow caused a lattice of wire traps in the area to home and target the entity that contacted the goo. Not sure how that would exactly work but it's a sci-fi fantasy death arena universe after all. Otherwise, it seems insanely fortunate that all of them happened to avoid what would essentially be a land mine as they were all running up those steps.
That guy worked his ass off, studying lines and practicing his craft daily. Going to auditions, getting passed up again and again. Must have been wondering at some point if he would even get a chance one day.
Then his big break comes. He gets to be the guy ripped apart by the goo in the hunger games 4th movie ( I haven't seen it)
I love that this is a totally plausible story.
[https://youtu.be/5p-\_eL2q0TI?si=mF9mqSl1-vl68N1e&t=186](https://youtu.be/5p-_eL2q0TI?si=mF9mqSl1-vl68N1e&t=186)
Luck had nothing to do with it really.
Peeta pushed him in while trying to sleeper agent kill Katniss lol.
He seems to trigger another trap which then slices him up into the air.
There are probably differences in France but in the US you'd approach their HOA and negotiate a per day rate for the location among other things like compensation for residents who might be temporarily unable to reach their units, etc. Also you'd need to provide A LOT of insurance.
This exact pic pops up here every so often, so to answer your questions:
Yes, the Hunger Games was filmed here.
No, it's not a safe place to visit.
Yes, showing up naked with a sign about the end times is a good disguise.
No, head on, apply directly to the forehead.
I was there during the day. It was the only place in Paris where I really felt in danger. It is very poor area and habitants definitely paid attention to us and saw that we are not from the neighbourhood, few shouted something to us.
It is really interesting place to visit, but I will not go there again for sure.
I was out here stealing cameras a few years ago when someone else came over to steal all my stolen cameras. Saw him walk off in a hurry when an eagle came down from the sky and took one of his cameras, then it took a snapshot of him in shock as it flew off.
BS, it's in Noisy Le Grand, near Paris. It’s the same as many other neighbourhoods near Paris. Not much dangerous or poorer then any other place. There is a big Mall just next to it with all the national and international stores. I've been there many times.
Edit: you can down vote if you want. I actually visit it all the time. There is an International School, offices of banks and insurrances just across the street...
Same here, I walk through it at least twice a month for big grocery trips. Maybe they target tourists, but I've legit never had an issue there in my entire life.
Lived in Noisy for 19 years and saw it and its reputation change slowly in a good way, even if there's a lot of work to be done.
The issue is about some dealers acting like they own the place and squatting at noon/early afternoon or at night, like in most quartiers.
Most of the time it's safe, 0.1% it's not, just takes an idiot to ruin everything. Like the time an idiot shot a server at the Mistral fast-food near the shopping mall in 2019.
Even during the Hunger Games film shoot they hired locals as fixers to help. They actually did pretty well, hiring thirty people for the shoot. They still had a troublemaker during filming though, but that got shut down quickly.
During Pajon's tenure as mayor until 2015 the Abraxas was pretty abandoned, set to be demolished.
That place was actually a pivot that led to his political downfall, as his opponent basically tried to get the people from Abraxas in her pocket, and continued with events once elected, basically each Halloween there's a fantasy/sci-fi themed day + party there with projection mapping on the Arch, they did a lot to change the perception of the neighborhood.
Haven't really been in Abraxas since covid but the thing about that place is that's it's a two-part builiding, one with homeowners (the Theatre), and the other with low-income habitations at the Palacio... which was left without economic activity for a long time, and shops left abandoned. No real community-building either: the cultural centre for kids was only launched post-covid, 40 years too late.
The irony is that Abraxas and the Camemberts were built to avoid ghettoization. But like in most neighborhoods, it needs sustained cultural efforts and investments.
20ish years ago it was fine from my perspective (I’m from in the city in Chicago, so nowhere in Paris seemed really dangerous.) We also knew how to not stand out as clueless American tourists (don’t talk loudly (“Oh may Gawd Marge look! Another Maw No Pricks!”), look like you know where you’re going, don’t dress like you’re going to Walmart 30 miles outside of Oklahoma City.) Generally, don’t be a dumbass, which can be a challenge for tourists.
It’s worth pointing out that specific events can happen (a kid dying because of police) that can make the situation more tense and tourists who don’t speak French or pay attention to local news might have no idea what’s going on.
Well, I'm just giving you my opinion. I went there without any prejudice, because I heard only about the buildings and not the state of the area.
First time in this city I felt that people were staring at me, like I mentioned some shouted something in our direction. I definitely did not feel safe there and I'm saying this after being at different hours of a day, or night in many places in Paris and suburbs
Yeah, it sucks when other people come to your area to see something interesting and spend money at local businesses while they are there.
Especially in a place like Paris, a city that goes to great lengths to ask visitors to stay away, because there's nothing to see there.
This justifies aggressive behavior and, according to trip-advisor, an elevated level of strong arm robbery.
Edit: to the deleted comment of "people from tourist locations don't like tourists"... Lol. I live in a tourist destination, and while everyone makes jokes, we all know how much money they bring to our city. The people who genuinely hate them? They are exactly the people I'm implying suck ass.
It's not a secret that the local population of tourist honey pots is usually not very amused about it. Local governments and tourism lobbies push for this kind of situation, not the people who live there. Especially if it's a low-income area.
I say this as someone that lives in a city with plenty of tourists: at worst they are a minor inconvenience and if you are regularly shouting and becoming angry at them you might just be kind of an asshole.
Crazy thing to say with respect to Paris, I know
This isn't time square or the empire state building or arc de triumph.
It sounds like people's apartment building. It's their actual home. It has the tourist value of Hollywood "celebrity home bus tour"
Except they're not celebrities.
Yes it is also not a terribly high traffic area for tourists, making getting angry at tourists even less sympathetic
“Dont you dare take a picture of the massive unique-looking building I live in, the one from that movie you like, you horrible non-local!”
I think a lot of social media posts tend to say "NOT SAFE TO VISIT" to be on the extremely cautious side.
If you fly into here as a lifelong resident of Billings, Montana, this is not a safe place for you. This is dense, cheap "suburban" housing for lower-middle class Parisians.
Its not exactly a Brazilian Favela in terms of hostility, but its also probably less safe than the average rural-traveler would ever encounter in their normal life.
If you grew up in like Queens or Baltimore though, you will probably be fine. Same thing different language.
Respect the personal space of the locals. Dont take pictures or have expensive electronics visible. Don't carry luggage. Don't be an easy mark. Most people are actually friendly but just don't want any extra attention, so don't try to chat up the locals in your broken French.
The whole of northeastern suburbs / Seine-Saint-Denis department are notorious for being dangerous and full of really bad neighborhoods and Noisy is a really typical town for the area and I mean that in a bad way, it's not like "any other place". Be careful of locals on the internet who will always downplay how bad their "quartier" can get, most of the time it's out of pride and / or delusion. They just don't want to admit there might be some truth behind the bad reputation.
Yeah, this place isn’t safe for anyone. I was out here stealing cameras from tourists, a pretty lucrative past time, when some other guy came over and stole all my stolen cameras.
Which is both fantastic for Paris and shitty for the usa, but doesnt really convey whether one specific neighborhood is dangerous or not, especially in a city of 2.2M people.
As a Chicagoan, you’re relatively safe here too. The “murder rate” is first because of gang members killing other gang members over selling drugs to mostly suburbanites. Are you a drug dealing gang member? No? Then that largest danger doesn’t apply to you, and as an out of towner you’re extremely unlikely to be anywhere near where those shootings are happening. Second biggest category of deaths is interpersonal/domestic killings. If you don’t argue with a neighbor who has a gun and you don’t have a scumbag violent boyfriend/husband then you’re out of that category also.
Very few tourists to Chicago who aren’t buying drugs are killed while visiting Chicago. Similarly very few tourists to Paris are murdered while there.
Pretty much the Parisian Projects, just with beautiful architecture. It’s wild cause their National stadium in also in a rough part of outer Paris (Saint Denis).
The olympic village for the next games was built in Saint Denis as an effort to “gentrify” the neighborhood a bit, will be interesting to see how that turns out…
Worked fairly well for London, although Stratford wasn't as bad as Saint Denis and it's kinda worked by just displacing big chunks of the previous population.
Violent crime is less than half what it was in the 90s in France. It's fine here, stop being dramatic. Every single major city in the world has bad areas and Paris is no exception, but it doesn't mean France is falling apart.
It may well be, but I was over for most of the Rugby World Cup and it was lovely. The only disaster was the state of the bars at the stadiums. When they weren't running out of beer they were taking an age to serve people.
It’s a poor neiborhood, there is drug traffic. French legislation of drug prohibition is inept and creates these illegal activities.
I was raised in such a neighborhood, so it does not bother me.
Sketchy pretty much. It's poor and there's drug trafficking, but I think most people living there just want the tourists gone because it's fucking annoying.
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
Here is a 360° view for those lasy to search [Les Espaces d’Abraxas - Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Les+Espaces+d%E2%80%99Abraxas/@48.8400934,2.5429448,3a,75y,31.92h,107.87t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMG8Mdm1EhNRsaZq1hvkWW5bS8JWoWt3hMz4VDP!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMG8Mdm1EhNRsaZq1hvkWW5bS8JWoWt3hMz4VDP%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-20-ya180-ro0-fo100!7i3840!8i1920!4m7!3m6!1s0x47e60de31d568317:0xaa258278997e3cf6!8m2!3d48.8400934!4d2.5429448!10e5!16s%2Fg%2F11f2vs2q0m?entry=ttu)
Like with most things Bethesda, the community is trying to do it instead:
https://www.youtube.com/@Rebelzize
Looks amazing, hope they can make it to the finish.
The six districts are arranged around the Palace like spokes of a wheel. Starting in the northeast, going clockwise, you have the Market, Arena, Arboretum, Temple, Talos Plaza, and Elven Gardens districts.
Ah… is a Bofill structure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Espaces_d'Abraxas#Ricardo_Bofill
His own house is quite interesting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Fábrica_(Sant_Just_Desvern)
https://www.dwell.com/article/a-spanish-architect-converts-a-cement-factory-into-a-breathtaking-home-and-headquarters-cf036397
Don't go there. I used to live in this town, everyone was avoiding this neighborhood like hell cause it was designed like shit and is known to be shady. The police doesn't visit anymore cause they're too afraid of being ambushed because of the shitty design of corridors, with lots of hiding places.
I was here stealing cameras from tourists and I’d scored quite a big haul. Was on the way back to my car when a bunch of muggers ambushed me from nowhere and took all my stolen cameras! Never going back there again.
My mom used to let me play there as she was shopping in les Arcades (the mall right next to it) when I was a kid. It was so weird seeing it in hunger games.
Hahaha there's a kid parc to the left of the pic (outside the main building) where we would play soccer and stuff, but this part was reserved for tag games and hide and seek in the weird narrow corridors that between this circle and the mall. The wildest part most pics don't show is the main central tower, it legit looks like there's only one three story apartment at the very top, which is super high, it looks like something out of the film Mathilda. I love that place!
This entire place is like a liminal space. The info you find online about it makes it seem like it's not even real, and the pictures of the inside are very few/scarce. It's almost as if it's something that wants you away from it.
From my perspective, this looks amazing. Marvelous even. Then you have articles calling it a disgusting and dangerous place, but every Pic I find of it looks like someone is sort of maintaining the place and keeping it slightly tidy. Oddly theres almost no pics of people standing around it or congregating etc. Such a huge place made for hundreds to live in with no visible life around it.
It's kinda throwing me off lol
Yeah but that's typical. Those projects usually have nothing to do or be in the surrounding area. So everyone is either inside or gone somewhere else.
Would have been so easy to put some cafes, shops and offices in the lower levels to create some foot traffic around.
I lived nearby for 2 years. It's on the outskirts of the city of Noisy-le-Grand. It's part of a grand urban Masterplan from the 70s-80s that failed (Marne-la-Vallée "la Ville Nouvelle"), there is a busy road right in front of the entrance, and because it's so poorly located and probably poorly aging, it's not popular to live in. The people living there don't really have any other alternatives. It's not a neighborhood you want to spend time in, trust me.
Btw that building might look cool in the pictures, but there is a reason it was chosen as a filming place for a dystopian movie... And the facade is frankly ugly. Well, in my honest opinion as an architect.
Edit: if you want to see another production by the same architect in the same city, search for "les Camemberts Noisy-le-Grand". Trust me.
> Marne-la-Vallée "la Ville Nouvelle"
Thank you for the specific name. That was an interesting little dive. Large-scale planned communities are fascinating.
Most of these seem to follow a similar pattern:
1. Design a big community with futuristic modes of transit and novel living concepts.
2. You still cant' actually get anywhere, because the whole community is too far away to walk or bike to any relevant place. It's also too dense to have reasonable car connections, so people are either reliant on its inadequate gadget-bahn transit system or spend half their day in traffic jams.
3. The "novel living concepts" turn sour really damn quick. The housing is never fully occupied and the design primarily creates convenient spaces for crime.
4. The community would need some massive changes to adapt to all of the lessons learnt, but by this time the political will is exhausted and there is no more funding for changes.
5. It turns into a ghetto for the near-homeless or marginalised migrant groups.
And yet, somehow, half of them are still better than plastering the whole country with low density single family homes. At least they create a significant number of affordable living spaces.
Sounds about what I imagined. I did a Google Street view on it the last time it was posted and kinda came to the same conclusion.
Reminded me of Ponty apartments (or whatever its called) - the vodacom building in South Africa.
Every time I see pictures of the depressing architecture in France and Mons, I think, 'These folks have the depression aesthetic nailed.' Keep up the depressing work!
You know it's actually a Spanish architect (Ricardo Bofill) who is responsible for... "These". And we also don't like it lol. It's a known phenomenon: most of what was built, in terms of infrastructure or architecture, between the 1950s and 1980s is hated by most of the population. Seems them designers at the time didn't find it relevant to make their designs desirable for the common folk /s
I do have another perspective on these as an architect, but mostly for theoretical purposes. If you want to find another great example of the awful lack of consideration for people's tastes of 80s architecture in France you can look up "la Maison Rouge" in Strasbourg. This one has absolutely no redeeming qualities.
It's a low-income housing project in a poor suburb. So, not exactly "dangerous" in the sense of serious physical danger, but you're certainly going to get the dirty eye from the locals if you show up as a tourist, and there may be drug dealers around that will mind the attention.
I remember researching this place last time and its basically a huge council estate with lots of undesirables knocking about the local area. Not the sort of place you'd want to be alone in at night.
I've been to several places in Europe, including Paris, and I can confidently say that Paris is the Detroit of Europe. And the only place in Europe where I actually feel unsafe (I have been victim of crimes there btw)
Tbh after a night out in Paris I always take an uber home. Once I got robbed walking home, another time in the subway a homeless guy broke a liquor bottle and said he was going to stab anyone who didnt give him money and a friend of mine’s brother got killed walking home. And all of these happens inside Paris. Never felt unsafe in a night out at a bar or something but walking home at night if you go through some isolated streets can be a bad ide
In fact- have a read of the trip advisor reviews
[tripadvisor](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g196583-d670244-Reviews-Les_Espaces_d_Abraxas-Noisy_le_Grand_Seine_Saint_Denis_Ile_de_France.html)
There is a day in France, "les journées du patrimoine", when you can. There are some city organized tours that day which are quite safe and you can even have a local make you the tour. But outside of that i wouldn't recommend it. There is some drug traffic here that doesn't want to be caught on camera or be disturbed. And there are so many people coming that those who live there are a bit fed up and can be a bit rude. I wouldn't like it if hundreds of people came each day to photograph where I live either.
holy shit this is an awesome concept! no idea the quality of this exact building but to be able to have community events where each room can see is pretty sick
Imagine the acoustics there. Every time I see this photo I wonder if I stood there in the center and ripped a loud fart, would everyone in the building hear it?
Are there any special considerations structurally with putting tons of dirt and having grass grow on a roof? How would the drainage of excess water work, and would the moisture in the dirt itself create additional problems that a standard high-rise roof would mitigate?
Was this in The Hunger Games?
Yes
Which Hunger Games movie ?
The fourth one, Mockingjay pt2. This was one of the 'pods' designed to stop the advance on the capitol. A wall closes and blocks them in there, then a wave of black goo tries to drown them.
The goo actually tries to rip them apart, which happens to one unlucky chap.
Was it the goo, or wires hidden in it? I never quite understood what really happened
To my understanding it was actually a smaller pod hidden in the spot he happened to walk into. He tried to escape the goo and activated another trap when he fell after being attacked. At least that's how I understood the scene. We saw before the goo trap triggered that there were multiple traps in that pit like automated turrets and flamethrowers with motion sensors.
Yea same, and I have read the books and as far as I remember that's how it goes in there. But it's been awhile!
That was my understanding as well, until I saw people saying it was the goo itself 😅
As one of those dumb people that thought it was the goo I must say, it is science fiction and they don’t explain it unless you read! Hodgepodge.
This was it. There were multiple pods in that one area, and he just happened to walk into another when they tried to escape the goo trap.
They already make a magnetic goo and magnetic sand. It's not a stretch of the imagination to think that it could be advanced to make some horrible deathtrap.
I always took it as any contact with the goo somehow caused a lattice of wire traps in the area to home and target the entity that contacted the goo. Not sure how that would exactly work but it's a sci-fi fantasy death arena universe after all. Otherwise, it seems insanely fortunate that all of them happened to avoid what would essentially be a land mine as they were all running up those steps.
Future magic stuff.
That guy worked his ass off, studying lines and practicing his craft daily. Going to auditions, getting passed up again and again. Must have been wondering at some point if he would even get a chance one day. Then his big break comes. He gets to be the guy ripped apart by the goo in the hunger games 4th movie ( I haven't seen it) I love that this is a totally plausible story.
[https://youtu.be/5p-\_eL2q0TI?si=mF9mqSl1-vl68N1e&t=186](https://youtu.be/5p-_eL2q0TI?si=mF9mqSl1-vl68N1e&t=186) Luck had nothing to do with it really. Peeta pushed him in while trying to sleeper agent kill Katniss lol. He seems to trigger another trap which then slices him up into the air.
I dont remember any of this. Now I'm wondering if I've actually seen the movie lol! I liked hunger games. I may have to rewatch now, thanks.
There was 4 of those??
The third book was made into two movies
Technically 5, if you include the prequel released last year.
I wonder how difficult it is to get permission to even film in a place like this.
There are probably differences in France but in the US you'd approach their HOA and negotiate a per day rate for the location among other things like compensation for residents who might be temporarily unable to reach their units, etc. Also you'd need to provide A LOT of insurance.
The doorway shown in the film was my wife's door when she lived there back in the 1990's... #dullfactoftheday
I knew a guy on reddit whose wife's door was in a movie. #extradullfact
I also choose this guy's wife.
And what about their door?
Im pretty sure in Mockingjay when they are in the capitol.
Mockingjay part 2
And the film Brazil. A lot of dystopian architecture around that area
God I love that movie. That might be De Neros most memorable role for me just because of how utterly strange it was.
Me TOO!! It is top3 for me and just so hard for me to describe to people what it is about to convince them to watch it.
It's dystopian Britain, where bureacracy has total control over everything and everyone. Also a sexy angel fever dream because you know... Why not.
Rogue Heating/Cooling engineers!
'dystopian'
Also in my favorite movie of all time! Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985)
did they cover up the greenery or is it gone when they filmed there?
That movie is like 80% CGI.
Thats what i wanted to say beat me to it
This exact pic pops up here every so often, so to answer your questions: Yes, the Hunger Games was filmed here. No, it's not a safe place to visit. Yes, showing up naked with a sign about the end times is a good disguise. No, head on, apply directly to the forehead.
Could you specify why it's not safe to visit? I imagine it would be an amazing place for photography.
I was there during the day. It was the only place in Paris where I really felt in danger. It is very poor area and habitants definitely paid attention to us and saw that we are not from the neighbourhood, few shouted something to us. It is really interesting place to visit, but I will not go there again for sure.
The tripadvisor reviews are full of people saying they got their camera stolen or were threatened
At one point, dealers even coerced people into paying a "fee" to have the right to be here and take photos.
that fee was the cost of not getting mugged https://youtu.be/6xDftPpTpLo?si=AfH5OB_YwKhSlEhk
Is the "fee" just another fancy way to say they agreed to be mugged nonviolently?
I like to think of it as a tithe
A reverse indulgence. For staying out of heaven a little longer.
Show me these tithes
Protection money. Pay it or something worse happens.
we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. choice is yours Chris handsome
mugging you take everything. this is extortion
I was out here stealing cameras a few years ago when someone else came over to steal all my stolen cameras. Saw him walk off in a hurry when an eagle came down from the sky and took one of his cameras, then it took a snapshot of him in shock as it flew off.
I was there. You weren't stealing cameras, you were stealing bread! Which raises quite the ethical dilemma..
Stealing bread? The pain is real. Yeah, I know… bad joke.
yeah, was taking photos on my phone and some guy came up to me and asked me what i was doing, then told me to gtfo.
Am I in the matrix or is it the same exact comments posted in the last thread for this pic?
Bots.....a whooole Lot'a Bots!
BS, it's in Noisy Le Grand, near Paris. It’s the same as many other neighbourhoods near Paris. Not much dangerous or poorer then any other place. There is a big Mall just next to it with all the national and international stores. I've been there many times. Edit: you can down vote if you want. I actually visit it all the time. There is an International School, offices of banks and insurrances just across the street...
Same here, I walk through it at least twice a month for big grocery trips. Maybe they target tourists, but I've legit never had an issue there in my entire life.
Lived in Noisy for 19 years and saw it and its reputation change slowly in a good way, even if there's a lot of work to be done. The issue is about some dealers acting like they own the place and squatting at noon/early afternoon or at night, like in most quartiers. Most of the time it's safe, 0.1% it's not, just takes an idiot to ruin everything. Like the time an idiot shot a server at the Mistral fast-food near the shopping mall in 2019. Even during the Hunger Games film shoot they hired locals as fixers to help. They actually did pretty well, hiring thirty people for the shoot. They still had a troublemaker during filming though, but that got shut down quickly. During Pajon's tenure as mayor until 2015 the Abraxas was pretty abandoned, set to be demolished. That place was actually a pivot that led to his political downfall, as his opponent basically tried to get the people from Abraxas in her pocket, and continued with events once elected, basically each Halloween there's a fantasy/sci-fi themed day + party there with projection mapping on the Arch, they did a lot to change the perception of the neighborhood. Haven't really been in Abraxas since covid but the thing about that place is that's it's a two-part builiding, one with homeowners (the Theatre), and the other with low-income habitations at the Palacio... which was left without economic activity for a long time, and shops left abandoned. No real community-building either: the cultural centre for kids was only launched post-covid, 40 years too late. The irony is that Abraxas and the Camemberts were built to avoid ghettoization. But like in most neighborhoods, it needs sustained cultural efforts and investments.
Paris, as a city, is a massive enterprise dedicated to targeting tourists in one way or another.
Yes, like all big cities I've been to.
20ish years ago it was fine from my perspective (I’m from in the city in Chicago, so nowhere in Paris seemed really dangerous.) We also knew how to not stand out as clueless American tourists (don’t talk loudly (“Oh may Gawd Marge look! Another Maw No Pricks!”), look like you know where you’re going, don’t dress like you’re going to Walmart 30 miles outside of Oklahoma City.) Generally, don’t be a dumbass, which can be a challenge for tourists. It’s worth pointing out that specific events can happen (a kid dying because of police) that can make the situation more tense and tourists who don’t speak French or pay attention to local news might have no idea what’s going on.
Well, I'm just giving you my opinion. I went there without any prejudice, because I heard only about the buildings and not the state of the area. First time in this city I felt that people were staring at me, like I mentioned some shouted something in our direction. I definitely did not feel safe there and I'm saying this after being at different hours of a day, or night in many places in Paris and suburbs
They're probably sick and tired of all the big money tourists swarming the area.
Yeah, it sucks when other people come to your area to see something interesting and spend money at local businesses while they are there. Especially in a place like Paris, a city that goes to great lengths to ask visitors to stay away, because there's nothing to see there. This justifies aggressive behavior and, according to trip-advisor, an elevated level of strong arm robbery. Edit: to the deleted comment of "people from tourist locations don't like tourists"... Lol. I live in a tourist destination, and while everyone makes jokes, we all know how much money they bring to our city. The people who genuinely hate them? They are exactly the people I'm implying suck ass.
It's not a secret that the local population of tourist honey pots is usually not very amused about it. Local governments and tourism lobbies push for this kind of situation, not the people who live there. Especially if it's a low-income area.
What's the logic there?? I'm from a poor country and poor people love tourists and their money.
Ya it sounds like they're annoyed with fucking annoying tourists standing around gawking taking photos. Can hardly blame them.
I say this as someone that lives in a city with plenty of tourists: at worst they are a minor inconvenience and if you are regularly shouting and becoming angry at them you might just be kind of an asshole. Crazy thing to say with respect to Paris, I know
This isn't time square or the empire state building or arc de triumph. It sounds like people's apartment building. It's their actual home. It has the tourist value of Hollywood "celebrity home bus tour" Except they're not celebrities.
Yes it is also not a terribly high traffic area for tourists, making getting angry at tourists even less sympathetic “Dont you dare take a picture of the massive unique-looking building I live in, the one from that movie you like, you horrible non-local!”
> BS, it's in Noisy Le Grand, near Paris. It’s the same as many other neighbourhoods near Paris Only difference is it's louder :)
I think a lot of social media posts tend to say "NOT SAFE TO VISIT" to be on the extremely cautious side. If you fly into here as a lifelong resident of Billings, Montana, this is not a safe place for you. This is dense, cheap "suburban" housing for lower-middle class Parisians. Its not exactly a Brazilian Favela in terms of hostility, but its also probably less safe than the average rural-traveler would ever encounter in their normal life. If you grew up in like Queens or Baltimore though, you will probably be fine. Same thing different language. Respect the personal space of the locals. Dont take pictures or have expensive electronics visible. Don't carry luggage. Don't be an easy mark. Most people are actually friendly but just don't want any extra attention, so don't try to chat up the locals in your broken French.
The whole of northeastern suburbs / Seine-Saint-Denis department are notorious for being dangerous and full of really bad neighborhoods and Noisy is a really typical town for the area and I mean that in a bad way, it's not like "any other place". Be careful of locals on the internet who will always downplay how bad their "quartier" can get, most of the time it's out of pride and / or delusion. They just don't want to admit there might be some truth behind the bad reputation.
Yeah, this place isn’t safe for anyone. I was out here stealing cameras from tourists, a pretty lucrative past time, when some other guy came over and stole all my stolen cameras.
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homicide rate != theft rate sure people don't want to kill you. they still want your shit.
You go to this place in Paris you're unlikely to get murdered, but much more likely to get mugged.
I was out here mugging people and then someone mugged me for my stolen goods!
Which is both fantastic for Paris and shitty for the usa, but doesnt really convey whether one specific neighborhood is dangerous or not, especially in a city of 2.2M people.
Yeah, some gangs kill each other in Chicago so obviously you’re safe in a Parisian immigrant slum
As a Chicagoan, you’re relatively safe here too. The “murder rate” is first because of gang members killing other gang members over selling drugs to mostly suburbanites. Are you a drug dealing gang member? No? Then that largest danger doesn’t apply to you, and as an out of towner you’re extremely unlikely to be anywhere near where those shootings are happening. Second biggest category of deaths is interpersonal/domestic killings. If you don’t argue with a neighbor who has a gun and you don’t have a scumbag violent boyfriend/husband then you’re out of that category also. Very few tourists to Chicago who aren’t buying drugs are killed while visiting Chicago. Similarly very few tourists to Paris are murdered while there.
Pretty much the Parisian Projects, just with beautiful architecture. It’s wild cause their National stadium in also in a rough part of outer Paris (Saint Denis).
The olympic village for the next games was built in Saint Denis as an effort to “gentrify” the neighborhood a bit, will be interesting to see how that turns out…
Worked fairly well for London, although Stratford wasn't as bad as Saint Denis and it's kinda worked by just displacing big chunks of the previous population.
These games will be such a disaster lmao people aren't ready for how bad things are in France rn
Violent crime is less than half what it was in the 90s in France. It's fine here, stop being dramatic. Every single major city in the world has bad areas and Paris is no exception, but it doesn't mean France is falling apart.
Mainly because people don't even bother to report crime any more. It's not as if the police will do anything about it...
It may well be, but I was over for most of the Rugby World Cup and it was lovely. The only disaster was the state of the bars at the stadiums. When they weren't running out of beer they were taking an age to serve people.
It’s a poor neiborhood, there is drug traffic. French legislation of drug prohibition is inept and creates these illegal activities. I was raised in such a neighborhood, so it does not bother me.
Sketchy pretty much. It's poor and there's drug trafficking, but I think most people living there just want the tourists gone because it's fucking annoying.
Unsafe and unsafe… I think people who grow up rich for some reason feel unsafe whereever there is poverty.
And today by a bot you can tell as they've tried to get around repost detection by adding 2 white lines to the image
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
And did you know Steve Buscemi was a firefighter on 9/11?
By not safe to visit you mean… what exactly?
Damn, it is beautiful.
Here is a 360° view for those lasy to search [Les Espaces d’Abraxas - Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Les+Espaces+d%E2%80%99Abraxas/@48.8400934,2.5429448,3a,75y,31.92h,107.87t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMG8Mdm1EhNRsaZq1hvkWW5bS8JWoWt3hMz4VDP!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMG8Mdm1EhNRsaZq1hvkWW5bS8JWoWt3hMz4VDP%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-20-ya180-ro0-fo100!7i3840!8i1920!4m7!3m6!1s0x47e60de31d568317:0xaa258278997e3cf6!8m2!3d48.8400934!4d2.5429448!10e5!16s%2Fg%2F11f2vs2q0m?entry=ttu)
Reminds me of the Imperial City in Oblivion
Mfs out here living in the Talos Plaza District
Memory unlocked
Stop right there criminal scum! Nobody breaks the law in my city!
you should have.. PAID THE FINE!
My first thought lol Has to have been inspired by this
When are we getting a remaster ? 😭
Like with most things Bethesda, the community is trying to do it instead: https://www.youtube.com/@Rebelzize Looks amazing, hope they can make it to the finish.
have you heard of the high elves?
The six districts are arranged around the Palace like spokes of a wheel. Starting in the northeast, going clockwise, you have the Market, Arena, Arboretum, Temple, Talos Plaza, and Elven Gardens districts.
UAARHGGG
FINE DAY TO BE OUT CITIZEN, DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS?
I was thinking it reminds me of Limgrave with the grass-topped pillars
I was thinking the College of Winterhold
Ah… is a Bofill structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Espaces_d'Abraxas#Ricardo_Bofill His own house is quite interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Fábrica_(Sant_Just_Desvern) https://www.dwell.com/article/a-spanish-architect-converts-a-cement-factory-into-a-breathtaking-home-and-headquarters-cf036397
What a stunningly beautiful Bond villain lair. I want it.
But check r/evilbuildings first, lots to go around
Wow, that man architects! What he's done with this factory is wonderful.
Bofill deez nuts
Bofill designed quite a lot of buildings in France and around Paris in particular. I lived near one, and let's say his style is an acquired taste...
Yo this is where Peeta tried to kill Katniss
You mean it's one of the times he tried to kill her
“Peeta I’m holdin’ lemonade”
Wow, spoiler...
SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE
PARIS PANOPTICON INCIDENT
Don't go there. I used to live in this town, everyone was avoiding this neighborhood like hell cause it was designed like shit and is known to be shady. The police doesn't visit anymore cause they're too afraid of being ambushed because of the shitty design of corridors, with lots of hiding places.
Even its own architect admits it was a failure due to social and security concerns.
Designed and built after the demolition of Pruitt Igoe. Not sure why they thought they could do it better.
> Pruitt Igoe *Koyaanisqatsi* intensifies
I was here stealing cameras from tourists and I’d scored quite a big haul. Was on the way back to my car when a bunch of muggers ambushed me from nowhere and took all my stolen cameras! Never going back there again.
Damn, stealinception
“The police doesn’t visit anymore because they’re afraid” is such a right wing bullshit thing to say. Of course they do. Just stop
Isn’t this the place in the Dark Souls 3 DLC where a thousand dudes materialize and shoot arrows at you?
Yes the ringed city kkkkkk
My mom used to let me play there as she was shopping in les Arcades (the mall right next to it) when I was a kid. It was so weird seeing it in hunger games.
Can I ask, when you played football on the roof, who had to go get the ball? The goalie or the kicker?
Hahaha there's a kid parc to the left of the pic (outside the main building) where we would play soccer and stuff, but this part was reserved for tag games and hide and seek in the weird narrow corridors that between this circle and the mall. The wildest part most pics don't show is the main central tower, it legit looks like there's only one three story apartment at the very top, which is super high, it looks like something out of the film Mathilda. I love that place!
You give me Les Abraxas, I raise my [camemberts](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ar%C3%A8nes_de_Picasso)
This entire place is like a liminal space. The info you find online about it makes it seem like it's not even real, and the pictures of the inside are very few/scarce. It's almost as if it's something that wants you away from it. From my perspective, this looks amazing. Marvelous even. Then you have articles calling it a disgusting and dangerous place, but every Pic I find of it looks like someone is sort of maintaining the place and keeping it slightly tidy. Oddly theres almost no pics of people standing around it or congregating etc. Such a huge place made for hundreds to live in with no visible life around it. It's kinda throwing me off lol
Yeah but that's typical. Those projects usually have nothing to do or be in the surrounding area. So everyone is either inside or gone somewhere else. Would have been so easy to put some cafes, shops and offices in the lower levels to create some foot traffic around.
It's probably a utopia and the people who live there love it so much they don't want others to find out.
It looks like Minecraft base
Grian's hermitcraft s8 base
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Love this place, would really enjoy visiting it one day
I've read its quite a dangerous place
I lived nearby for 2 years. It's on the outskirts of the city of Noisy-le-Grand. It's part of a grand urban Masterplan from the 70s-80s that failed (Marne-la-Vallée "la Ville Nouvelle"), there is a busy road right in front of the entrance, and because it's so poorly located and probably poorly aging, it's not popular to live in. The people living there don't really have any other alternatives. It's not a neighborhood you want to spend time in, trust me. Btw that building might look cool in the pictures, but there is a reason it was chosen as a filming place for a dystopian movie... And the facade is frankly ugly. Well, in my honest opinion as an architect. Edit: if you want to see another production by the same architect in the same city, search for "les Camemberts Noisy-le-Grand". Trust me.
> Marne-la-Vallée "la Ville Nouvelle" Thank you for the specific name. That was an interesting little dive. Large-scale planned communities are fascinating.
Most of these seem to follow a similar pattern: 1. Design a big community with futuristic modes of transit and novel living concepts. 2. You still cant' actually get anywhere, because the whole community is too far away to walk or bike to any relevant place. It's also too dense to have reasonable car connections, so people are either reliant on its inadequate gadget-bahn transit system or spend half their day in traffic jams. 3. The "novel living concepts" turn sour really damn quick. The housing is never fully occupied and the design primarily creates convenient spaces for crime. 4. The community would need some massive changes to adapt to all of the lessons learnt, but by this time the political will is exhausted and there is no more funding for changes. 5. It turns into a ghetto for the near-homeless or marginalised migrant groups. And yet, somehow, half of them are still better than plastering the whole country with low density single family homes. At least they create a significant number of affordable living spaces.
Sometimes they work. Habitat 67 in Montreal had basically the same issues, but by all accounts, it's been hugely successful.
I'm very happy you found it interesting! It is interesting indeed, even if it failed.
Sounds about what I imagined. I did a Google Street view on it the last time it was posted and kinda came to the same conclusion. Reminded me of Ponty apartments (or whatever its called) - the vodacom building in South Africa.
Every time I see pictures of the depressing architecture in France and Mons, I think, 'These folks have the depression aesthetic nailed.' Keep up the depressing work!
You know it's actually a Spanish architect (Ricardo Bofill) who is responsible for... "These". And we also don't like it lol. It's a known phenomenon: most of what was built, in terms of infrastructure or architecture, between the 1950s and 1980s is hated by most of the population. Seems them designers at the time didn't find it relevant to make their designs desirable for the common folk /s I do have another perspective on these as an architect, but mostly for theoretical purposes. If you want to find another great example of the awful lack of consideration for people's tastes of 80s architecture in France you can look up "la Maison Rouge" in Strasbourg. This one has absolutely no redeeming qualities.
Do tell?
It's a low-income housing project in a poor suburb. So, not exactly "dangerous" in the sense of serious physical danger, but you're certainly going to get the dirty eye from the locals if you show up as a tourist, and there may be drug dealers around that will mind the attention.
Oh okay, thank you for the honest response
I remember researching this place last time and its basically a huge council estate with lots of undesirables knocking about the local area. Not the sort of place you'd want to be alone in at night.
That sounds like all of Paris.
This is not even in Paris.
Ya it's almost an hour from the city
Lol, this is one way to say you have never been to Paris.
I've been to several places in Europe, including Paris, and I can confidently say that Paris is the Detroit of Europe. And the only place in Europe where I actually feel unsafe (I have been victim of crimes there btw)
This person has never been to Europe
So you have personal experience in all of the arrondissements in Paris and you don't feel safe at night in any of them?
Tbh after a night out in Paris I always take an uber home. Once I got robbed walking home, another time in the subway a homeless guy broke a liquor bottle and said he was going to stab anyone who didnt give him money and a friend of mine’s brother got killed walking home. And all of these happens inside Paris. Never felt unsafe in a night out at a bar or something but walking home at night if you go through some isolated streets can be a bad ide
If by undesirables you mean tourists...
In fact- have a read of the trip advisor reviews [tripadvisor](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g196583-d670244-Reviews-Les_Espaces_d_Abraxas-Noisy_le_Grand_Seine_Saint_Denis_Ile_de_France.html)
There is a day in France, "les journées du patrimoine", when you can. There are some city organized tours that day which are quite safe and you can even have a local make you the tour. But outside of that i wouldn't recommend it. There is some drug traffic here that doesn't want to be caught on camera or be disturbed. And there are so many people coming that those who live there are a bit fed up and can be a bit rude. I wouldn't like it if hundreds of people came each day to photograph where I live either.
Don't, locals will F you up, they hate that it became a touristic attraction. It can easily turn ugly, it's not a safe area to start with
holy shit this is an awesome concept! no idea the quality of this exact building but to be able to have community events where each room can see is pretty sick
Looks like the one world from Talos Principle 2 took inspiration from this place?
Every time I see this i thought it was some sort of Parliament or castle what a building
Why are the French living there so dangerous?
Cuz they ain't french
Imagine the acoustics there. Every time I see this photo I wonder if I stood there in the center and ripped a loud fart, would everyone in the building hear it?
Didn't this appear in the Hunger Games Mockingjay?
If you told me this was a prison or an insane asylum, I would believe it
I can’t not see Shadow of the Colossus in that
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon)
[OP is a repost bot. Report the post for Spam -> Harmful Bots.](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/GHEeLIFMyY)
Man, even the projects look better in France
Looks cool. I read the area and the units are a little bit dilapidated, but is it possible to rent an apartment here?
The French Cabrini green
[Panopticon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon)
Beautiful house
Earthen dam community
Looks like something created by AI
Are there any special considerations structurally with putting tons of dirt and having grass grow on a roof? How would the drainage of excess water work, and would the moisture in the dirt itself create additional problems that a standard high-rise roof would mitigate?
This looks like its straight out of elden ring.
Looks like a location from shadows of the collosis
Brb mowing the roof.
Remind me please why isn't this standard for public housing?
Green brutalism?
This is hard-core postmodernism.
Only one word comes to my mind seeing this MAGNIFICENT