Southern Fried French

Nôtre Dame: To Re-build, or Re-imagine?

Now that we've recovered from the shock of the Nôtre Dame fire, it's time to turn a designing eye to the future. The reconstruction of the cathedral falls into two camps: those who would restore the steeple with a historic copy, and those who would add something fresh that moves the cathedral forward. I fall squarely into the latter camp. Onward and upward! So it's time to get those creative juices flowing as high as a flying buttress. And that's just what an international contengent of architects have been doing, after French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced, in April, a design competition  for a new steeple. Some proposals are thoughtful or visionary, some are decidedly tongue in cheek and funny, all are époustouflant (incredible!). Let's take a look:

PHOTO ABOVE:  French designer Mathieu Lehanneur evokes that terrible fire, with a lava stone flame with a gold finish. I'm shooting this one down as too obvious, and for evoking painful memories.

 

BELOW: What better material than the iconic Baccarat Crystal for a new roof? This one is by  the Italians Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas.

 

Thinking WAY outside the box, Stockholm studio Ulf Mejergren Architects proposes a public swimming pool, functional and open to all.

 

 

Remember the Hunchback of Notre Dame? With a wink and a smile, Who Cares Design presents a penthouse and garden for Quasimodo himself.

 

Stained glass is classic for church windows, so why not for the roof?

 

Below, one of two designs which adds a giant greenhouse to the roof. This one, by Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, has an eco-system which actually produces, rather than uses, energy, and includes a hydroponic farm. It's beautiful, too--my favorite design so far.

 

And this  design by Studio NAB features a greenhouse roof with orchards, and they envision workshops on ecology inside. The steeple houses a beehive.

 

 

The aliens have landed: Designer Dakis Panayiotou calls this a "fictional" design. When he saw the news of the fire, he felt like "reality and fiction merged into one." OK. But no.

 

This design by David Deroo is apparently the most popular so far on social media, probably because it's on the conservative side.

 

An ethereal solution features a tall needle which projects a taller light that "connects with sky with the earth". By Vizum Atelier.

 

This entry is by Russian architect  Tara Sovtho. It looks, well, Russian.

 

And finally, with a firm jab at modern development and the out-of-control growth of our cities, Yung Yonge and Rob Cross imagine the roof as a parking lot for a particular objects of worship: our cars.

 

Feel free to vote for your favorite in the comments--or leave your own ideas!

 

In the COMMENTS: Natalia, I’m with you, I like the “make-ahead” aspect of a dînatoire. And apparently dînatoires are more common in the south, per Darcey, Anne (of Music and Markets European tours) andBonnie. Here in Burgundy, even the expats entertain the traditional way, as Jean-Paul says. And don’t miss Frank’s very funny description of the kind of French dinner party we’ve all been to, including me, and Paula. (Next time we'll get back to our dînatoire recipes).

 

 

French Dining, "Bouleversé"

Friends Dee and Mariella bring out some serious homemade French apéros: fresh pea soup, beets with goat cheese, cucumbers in herbed yogurt, and more.

Food writer Ann Mah wrote an article recently, about the classic French dinner party--which is typically a four-course, sit-down affair--being turned upside down. She talks about the new popularity of the apéro dînatoire in France. In the states it's common, we call it "heavy hor d'oeuvres", meaning a cocktail party that can count as dinner instead of just nibbles. But she's talking about doing the equivalent of heavy hors d'oeuvres for a more intimate group, with folks eating on their laps on the nearest chair. 

I don't know where she's been eating lately, probably Paris. Though she says it's a trend from city to province, the fad certainly hasn't gotten to our coin of Burgundy yet. That's not to say I don't know the whole drill. We've been to dînatoires in France over the years, here and there, there are appropriate occasions for them. But not many. Folks here stick to the ritual courses and dine à table. And it's very hard to imagine the French eating with their fingers, or heaven forbid abandoning the table to lounge on the couch and munch.

Is the elegant French dinner party becoming an endangered species?

But we can learn a bit from the model that Ann describes, since the French have of course put their own spin on it. It's like a cocktail party, but in the French way they don't bring everything out at once. In other words, it's finger food but they serve it in courses. Hmm, done this way I'm not sure it's that much easier to pull together than a French dinner party! Still, it's a nice casual way to entertain if you've got a crowd and/or you've got kids running about. You can have a big enough spread so you don't have to worry about someone's dietary restrictions, and if you add an easy cheese course, it will have a French feel.

Ann Mah finds it's easier because you can serve mostly store-bought, prepared stuff. I personally love to serve fresh food, and cook for the people I love, but then again I'm retired, so I have the luxury of time. On the other hand, if you're "noshing", there are plenty of prepared foods that you can just open or assemble: olives, radishes, jarred roasted red peppers, smoked salmon, charcuterie. Then round it out with a homemade treat or two. 

Our beloved next-door neighbors, who are Dutch and French, lapse into the dînatoire thing often, just with the four of us. They invite us over for a drink, and bring out some lovely nibbles. Later, some more serious nibbles appear. Then there's cheese, then we decide to have some ice cream, and before you know it it's bedtime, dinner is done, there are a few more bottles in the bin. And a fine time was had by all.

I'm interested to hear from ex-pats in other areas. Do you know the trend, have you tried it? We always love entertaining tips!

NEXT TIME: Great dînatoire recipes from my neighbor Marion.

 

Favorite READS: Speaking of food and entertaining, thank you so much Natalia for your recommendation for Ruth Reichl's Save me the Plums. This food writer and former editor of the dearly departed Gourmet Magazine is one of my heros. I can't wait to read it.  And Libby, I too am in the middle of Je t'aime à La Folie, Micheal Wright's sequel to C'est La Folie, which I blogged about recently, and I'm loving it.