La Pyramide is a fifteen-storey concrete complex completed in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in 1973. It attempted to recreate the activity of a traditional African market vertically, placing shops around a vast central atrium with offices and apartments above them. The experiment proved expensive: circulation consumed much of the rentable space, while elevators and air-conditioning raised operating costs beyond what many traders could afford. It has stood largely empty since the 1980s.
La Pyramide
