Paris (AFP)

Identical reconstruction or daring gesture: six months after the fire of Notre-Dame and while a controversial architectural competition could take place, the imaginations give themselves to their heart's content: hanging gardens, luminous arrow ... Tourism and ecological concerns are inviting in the debate.

On the social networks, humor and provocation flourished as soon as the executive announced a possible contest on the future arrow: Notre-Dame surmounted by a light beam, a wind turbine, a green ray, a a fairytale castle, a Muslim crescent, a bottle of champagne or a new glass pyramid ...

Two "serious" schools, however, clash:

On the one hand, the "orthodox" who argue that the cathedral of the nineteenth century with the arrow recreated by Viollet-le-Duc, can be reborn in its splendor.

In this camp are the animator Stéphane Bern, charged by the president Emmanuel Macron with a mission on the inheritance, and eminent experts like the chief architect of the cathedral itself, Philippe Villeneuve, all very worried of the invitation of the executive to an architectural gesture that would undermine the integrity of the timeless masterpiece of Viollet-le-Duc.

And also a majority of French, if we believe polls.

In the opposite camp, the "modernists" on the contrary hold to this innovative gesture, which would emancipate the work of Viollet-le-Duc to leave the building a more or less bold footprint of the twenty-first century.

What could be more glorifying than leaving one's signature on Notre-Dame for those nicknamed "starchitects". For them, rebuilding it with a modern twist would be the last evolution of a long series in eight centuries.

Here are some suggestions:

- The British architect Norman Foster proposes a glass roof. The arrow, of pyramidal shape, would be made of crystal and stainless steel. Its base would be surrounded by a platform for visitors.

- The architect Alexandre Chassang of the ABH cabinet proposes a gigantic futuristic glass arrow.

- The Italian studio Fuksas proposes a roof and a glass arrow resembling Baccarat crystal, which would be illuminated from the inside at night.

- The Slovak studio Vizum Atelier offers a fine and light tower such as a white peak extended by a light beam.

- The graphic designer Anthony Séjourné imagines an ephemeral light beam, which could be exposed for the Christmas period.

- The architect Alexandre Fantozzi (AJ6 Studio, São Paulo) offers an arrow completely covered with stained glass windows in red tones.

- The French cabinet Godart + Roussel proposes a roof of glass and copper tiles, a metal arrow which would overhang a glass roof sheltering a zone of walk. A glazed floor would open on the inside of the church.

- Russian architect Alexander Nerovnya wants to marry glass and stone. The roof would keep its shape but would be transformed thanks to the glass; the arrow would be close to the old one.

- The Belgian studio Miysis offers a modern plant canopy and an arrow rebuilt identically.

- Architect Nicolas Abdelkader from NAB studio offers a wooden greenhouse and a giant hive. In this space, a place of learning and insertion for people in difficulty would be provided.

- The architect Marc Carbonare proposes a gigantic esplanade open to the public with in its center a stone spire and a real forest.

- The French designer Mathieu Lehanneur wants to create a huge flame in memory of the fire.

© 2019 AFP