>Are we sure it's really modernist architecture, and they didn't just,
>I dunno, forget to draw the outside of the building before
>construction started, and then BS their way out of it?

It looks like somebody took the main process portion of a chemical plant (or refinery, sans the fractionating column) and plopped it down in a city. All that's missing is the tank farm. On second thought, with the way it is painted, it more resembles the 3D models of a process plant, where various components are color-coded during the CAD work, rather than being shown photo-realistic.

I love the factoid from that article about a resident of Paris attacking one of the architects when she discovered he was one of those responsible for it.