The Pompidou Centre was commissioned by President Georges Pompidou, who envisaged a temple of the arts which would fit with modern times: where arts and culture would be accessible to all. The commission was won by architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, who designed an entirely innovative and contemporary building which, as the antithesis of modern architecture which seeks to hide its functional parts, instead playfully displays its pipes, escalators and support structures in technicolour for all to see. The seven level glass-walled structure was officially opened in 1977, and houses the National Museum of Modern Art, the Institute of Acoustic and Musical Research (IRCAM), a free library, and a variety of exhibition halls, shops, restaurants and an arthouse cinema.
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