Escalator of Centre Georges Pompidou

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This is an inside view of one of the escalators in the Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou. A series of escalators runs along the outside of the western facade of the building in a zigzag pattern, inside transparent tunnels. I have a sneaking suspicion that this arrangement inspired the escalators at Beverly Center in Los Angeles, but I'm not sure.

You can see the plaza in front of the museum several stories below through the transparent walls of the escalator tube. The exposed mechanical equipment (cableways and the like) is a deliberate architectural feature of the building.

Click directly on the photo to see a larger version (twice this size). Photographed on July 31, 2000.

Centre Georges Pompidou