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width="1" height="1" //divpIf the law were a colour, what would it be? Dominique Perrault, the
Parisian architect of the newly reconstructed European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, thinks the
answer is gold. Why gold? "Because this is not a criminal court," he says. "It's not a place
concerned with prisons and punishments. It's do with relations between European countries, with
constitutional concerns. And anyway, I thought the sky over Luxembourg is often so sad that it
would be nice, somehow, to catch the sun and bring it here." He's right: when the low, late
November sun catches the base of the court's brand new twin towers, they light up like a pair of
giant candles. /ppThe European Court of Justice, founded in 1952, is the highest court in the
union, with a judge appointed from each member country. Located on top of the Kirchberg plateau,
separated from Luxembourg City by a deep ravine, the court was until recently a rather soulless
place. Perrault has succeeded in introducing an unexpected playfulness. "I like those cities you
find in Spain, Austria or Bavaria," he says, "which have patches of wonderful and unexpected colour
- where buildings have been designed to bring some nice architectural weather when conditions are
grey." /ppThe Kirchberg plateau forms a sort of latter-day bureaucratic Acropolis. Since the
founding of the European Union, this place has been studded with a large number of imposing, if not
exactly delightful, EU buildings. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was one of the six founding members
of the European Community, and as the EU has expanded, the need for new architecture here has
grown. Today, mighty institutions such as the European Investment Bank, housed in a purpose-built
1980s fortress designed by Denys Lasdun (the architect behind the National Theatre), stand next to
a new generation of cultural buildings, among them the recently completed Philharmonie concert hall
by French architect Christian de Portzamparc, and the new museum of modern art by IM Pei, the
Chinese-American architect behind the glass pyramid at the Louvre. This all seems well done,
although somewhat worthy and antiseptic./ppAs for the Court of Justice, this had to expand when it
was announced that EU membership would increase to 27 countries. Perrault was commissioned to wrap
a new building around the existing complex. His brief was not simply to enlarge the court, but to
ensure that every one of its 2,000 staff, formerly spread across a huge campus, was housed under
one roof. He and his collaborators have doubled the amount of space - and yet the building does not
appear twice the size. It feels generous, easy to use, and well crafted - which, given that it cost
you, me and everyone else in the EU more than euro;500m, is as it should be. /ppBehind those two
pencil-thin gold towers lies a kind of shimmering palace. This is the grand new public plaza,
between the towers and the main building, and its interiors are some of the most extraordinary yet
created for the EU./ppFrom the main entrance into the building, a ramp leads down to the central
court. A dramatic room by any standards, this handsome timber-lined chamber boasts a ceiling
straight out of One Thousand and One Nights. Above a great glass screen, a giant gold flower
appears to blossom out over the judges' benches and the public viewing gallery. This is in fact a
woven steel veil, which floats over the court like an improbably glamorous mosquito net over the
bed of a fairytale princess. Well, that's what I saw, anyway. Perrault describes this ceiling as
"like a shining Medusa". Perhaps the judges who meet here will make the final ruling on what it is
meant to signify./pp"I wanted to create a warm ambience," explains Perrault, "not a confrontational
one. I wanted to grab the sun and bring it inside the court. The judges wanted some daylight, but
not views out because this might distract them from their deliberations. So I thought of this
golden veil, where the light can come in, [where it can be] warm even on a cold day. Then I made
the floors and walls in warm wood, and the carpets in purple."/ppThe smaller courtrooms, while less
dramatic than the main chamber, are also timber-lined and warmly finished. These are encircled by a
new two-storey corridor or internal street of crisp, modern spaces - lobbies, cafes, libraries,
judges' chambers. Daylight filters through the building, while the artificial light is playful and
imaginative. /ppThe overall impression is of an earnest giant who, despite himself, wants to dress
up and play. While Perrault has decked his building in colour and plays of shimmering light, the
structure of the remodelled court is logical and perfectly serious. In a way, it reminds me of
Barry and Pugin's Palace of Westminster: a mighty parliamentary building for what was once the hub
of an empire, garbed in stunning fancy dress, and all the better for it. /ppOutside, the twin
100-metre-high towers are reminiscent of Oscar Niemeyer's National Congress Building in Brasilia.
In cityscape terms, they have been designed with the same end in mind - as eyecatchers,
architectural focal points to be seen from afar. Perrault's towers will be home to some 600 legal
writers from across the EU, whose job it is to ensure that European laws are understood in more
than 20 languages. That there are a lot of EU laws is evident in the sheer scale of the towers.
/ppDominique Perrault's Court of Justice is a highly unexpected one - though you could argue that
we should expect nothing less. Born in Clermont-Ferrand and based in Paris since 1981, the
architect made his name with the vast and hugely controversial Bibliothegrave;que Nationale de
France, one of President Mitterand's "grands travaux". Rising from what was an industrial wasteland
in the 13th arrondissement on the south bank of the Seine, this giant library, known as "la TGB"
(Tregrave;s Grande Bibliothegrave;que), is composed of four giant glass towers shaped in the guise
of open books set about a plinth. Books are stacked in these towers, while readers gaze out into a
sunken garden, planted with evergreen trees. /ppStacking books in glass towers was, to many minds,
an odd and even contrary thing to do. Soon after the building opened, wooden screens were placed
inside the tower windows to keep the sun at bay. Exotic woods lining the reading rooms were a
further source of controversy. Had they come from a sustainable source? What did their use say
about a nominally post-imperial France? Despite these concerns, the building remains deeply
impressive. Perrault has the knack of somehow combining the role and skills of an architect with
those of an art director. His up-and-coming Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, women's university
in Seoul and San Pellegrino thermal baths near Bergamo all promise to be cinematic buildings of
great daring and adventure. (The latter will look something like a fall oftumbled boulders, seen
through a glacier at the foot of a real mountain.)/ppPerrault's designs can be wildly imaginative,
and they can be abstractly minimal. He treads his own bold path. With the EU Court of Justice, he
has shown us how a rational, highly organised and seemingly matter-of-fact building can be
dazzling, even romantic. The law has never looked quite so colourful./pdiv style="float: left;
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