band-aid, inducing a shiver at the words DANGER DE MORT written directly underneath.
There is plenty of humour to be found in the names. In the street in front of a major construction project a temporary substation has been installed in a portacabin type structure; it is simply named DEPENSE – expense. The wizard Merlin is evoked on a door named MAGIQUE , attached to the Rosny-sous-Bois branch of the DIY store Leroy Merlin. One grey, drizzly, morning I spotted the familiar cubic form of a small standalone substation, in the distance beyond a large carpark. I wove my way through the cars to discover its name and was rewarded with the joy of finding that the substation in this glum corner of the city was called JOIE . A grimmer sense of humour was evoked by the name of another: PANSEMENT , French for plaster or
Frequently, the name is that of the street, or a nearby street: BERLIOZ, DOMBASLE, REVOLUTION, SAVART (the naming of streets is another form of urban poetry, again sometimes obvious, sometimes not). Others are named after faraway places: ALSACE- LORRAINE, BOURGOGNE, PEROU ; and quite a few after plants: CHENE (oak), GROSEILLER (redcurrant), SUREAUX (elderberry).
all images Ruth Oldham
HACHIS
PLACAGE
STOKVIS D
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on site review 41 :: infrastructure
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