Here is it:
" Tjibaou Cultural Centre
"On the southern pacific island of New Caledonia, along the point of the cape between Magenta Bay and a mangrove-surrounded lagoon, a range of amazingly fascinating constructions are displayed over the jungle, presenting its attractiveness and calling up people’s imagination. So enigmatical they are that people are baffled whether these objects are survival from the ancientry or they come from the aftertime: they seem to be made of fabric, yet extremely over sized; they look like radio-telescope, but they are wooden. Also, the buildings tend to express some remaining legendary sense of the modern society with the tall lathing pointing vertically to sky, likely showing some awe to the gods and the power of universe. These buildings designed by Renzo Piano and named after Jean-Marie Tjibaou, the New Caledonian leader who died in 1989 for independence of his country from the French government, is the Tjibaou Cultural Centre.
"While exhibiting a very modern feel, the Tjibaou cultural centre yet still evokes the native Kanak culture of New Caledonia. The Center itself is similar to that of the villages the Kanak tribes live in. It is constituted by 3 villages made up of 10 units, which are called 'case' in French, of varying sizes and different functions (exhibition spaces, multimedia library, cafeteria, conference and lecture rooms). The cases are linked by a long, gently curving enclosed walkway, reminiscent of the ceremonial alley of the traditional Kanak village. Or, rather than 3 villages, they are more like shrines out spreading along the pathway. It is like the the unwinded Pantheon: the shrines with in the thick remaining walls of the pantheon have broken the fetter and arrayed themselves to the side of the road, and was unmindfully woven into an Acropolis-like island scene. These isolated highly standing, then clustered round cases have successfully released the symbolism which has long been inhabited. Their tremendous scale, as well as their independent existing, is enough to distinguish the Tjibaou Cultural Centre from the concentrated commemorative constructions and to make them the individual troop of monuments of Tijbaou, while their clustering form can be a new symbol of the Kanak village culture.
"The identity of the Kanak is not only manifested through the form of the building but also through the relationship to the local circumstance. Located on the peninsula between the stormy Pacific Ocean and the calm lagoon, the design of Renzo Piano takes advantage of the prevailing winds come off the ocean through its natural ventilating system--the top of the wood-made outer façade are like comb that filters the wind into a second layer of glass louvers which can open and close. When ‘Alize’—monsoon in native language-- flows through it, the building will croon. Meanwhile, the buildings are well merged with its landscape. The vegetal crust of the buildings, like it of Kanak adobe and other facilities, establish a close relationship with the surrounding vegetation both visually and practically. The Kanak pathway that winds through the dense natural vegetation, traditional Kanak ceremonial grounds with traditional huts, an outdoor auditorium and residences for visiting artists, lecturers, scholars and students, as well as the main building, integrate themselves and take advantage of the natural beauty of the site."
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