English Subs: The Great Arch (La Grande Arche)

In 1983, President François Mitterrand launched an international architectural competition for the showpiece of his presidency: the Grande Arche de la Défense, an extension of the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe.

To everyone’s surprise, the unknown Danish architect Otto von Spreckelsen won. Overnight, the 53-year-old Dane found himself in Paris, where he was put in charge of this gigantic construction project. Although the architect intended to make his design for the Grande Arche a reality, it soon became clear that his ideas clashed with the unruly reality and the whims of politics.