Émile Aillaud, Les Tours du Quartier Picasso, Nanterre, 1973-1981

Who else has their head in the clouds this Wednesday? These sky simulating towers by architect Émile Aillaud were built in the 1970s, in the city of Nanterre in France. Aillaud’s aim was to prove that suburban social housing did not have to consist of austere, shoe-box style apartments, but could instead be modern and playful. As such, he constructed a series of circular towers with undulating facades that take the shape of clouds when seen from above. Meanwhile, each building is clad in paste glass mosaics, also conceived to resemble cloud formations, completing the captivating camouflage effect of the eighteen-tower complex.