Pompidou Centre

I recently featured some of the work of the architect Norman Foster, so over a couple of posts I thought I'd feature some work by his old partner prior to 1967, Richard Rogers.
The Pompidou Centre in Paris was designed in collaboration with Renzo Piano and built between 1972 and 1976. I first visited the Pompidou Centre not long after it opened in 1977. Whilst I loved the exterior construction, built in the contemporary post-modern anti-vernacular narrative with an exoskeleton (no, I don't know what all that means either - I just made it up), the interior was quickly looking a tad shabby in places and the usage of the spaces seemed confused. It underwent a renovation between 1997 and 1999. But, for a building that is now some 34 years old I think the exterior still looks original and fabulous.