In the southeast corner of the 13ème lies a growing neighbourhood: contemporary block architecture dominates, the façade of each building are attention-grabbing in a different way than the Haussmanmians, and there’s not a lot that’s conventional about many of these structures. From twisted floors to glass-filled walls, from disorderly-placed windows to size-varied windows, from unicolour walls to multi-colours panes, uniformity is not the name of the game and yet they all blend in quite harmoniously with one another.

From what I can gather, there are mostly offices around here, but a handful few buildings are clearly residential. A lot of thought had gone into the development of this quarter, with abundance of amenities, green spaces and convenient public transportation connections, not to mention just beyond – northward in direction – lies one of the sites of the National Library of France, i.e. the Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand, and one of the larger cinema complex in Paris. The River Seine runs east of the neighbourhood, with many parked barques functioning as night spots, catering to a relatively young population.

I’ve only been in the area during the day, and it is a vibrant yet calm neighbourhood. Should this be the case too in the evening, this may be a good area to consider moving into and urban planning projects elsewhere could learn plenty from what’s taking place here.