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The utopian dream is a thing of the past: The postmodern residential area of Noisy-le-Grand by Ricardo Bofill.

The utopian dream is a thing of the past: The postmodern residential area of Noisy-le-Grand by Ricardo Bofill.

The utopian dream is a thing of the past: The postmodern residential area of Noisy-le-Grand by Ricardo Bofill.
Parisand in Sen-St. DenisLes Espaces d'Abraxas, a residential complex that resembles the Tower of Babel. Its uncanny atmosphere - somewhere between a utopian dream of a 'new world' and a postmodern neoclassical apartment complex - has been the backdrop for two Hollywood films, including Brazil (1984) and, more recently, the upcoming second installment of The Hunger Games: The Mockingbird Saga (2015).

Parisian photographer Laurent Cronenthal's photo series, Souvenir d'un Futur (Memories of the Future), is a tribute to the elderly residents of the Grand Ensemble of the French capital - not only in Noisy-le-Grand but also in other banlieues.

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His photographs show the various places and their inhabitants, which, despite their often megalomaniacal architectural settings, have been comparatively undervalued. “These 'monuments', living memories of their time, epitomize the fragile strength of youth blindly aged” - Laurent Cronenthal.

As part of this photo series, Laurent Cronenthal shot a number of other large residential developments in the Paris suburbs, including Les Espaces d'Abraxas and Le Pavé Neuf in Noisy-le-Grand, Les Tours Aillaud in Nanterre, Les Damiers in Courbevoie, La Cité du Parc and La Cité Maurice-Torez in Ivry-sur-Seine, Le Arcade du Lac and Le Viaduc in Montigny-les-Bretonneux, Le Org de Flandres and La Cité Curiale-Cambre in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.

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