Gérard Grandval, Les Choux de Créteil, 1974

What do these balconies remind you of? In their native France, they’re known as Les Choux

(“the cabbages”) or sometimes “the ears of corn”. The shapely terraces were conceived by the late architect Gérard Grandval, and adorn a group of ten cylindrical apartment buildings in the Paris suburb of Créteil. At two metres tall, the balconies are functional as well as decorative, not only providing outdoor access, but also added privacy for the apartments’ residents. Today, the buildings are considered emblematic of French architecture of the 1970s.