Paris. La Defense 2015.

[benoi]

Official website in english :
http://www.ladefense.fr/english_english.php

Official NEW website in french : La Défense Seine-Arche
http://www.ladefense-seine-arche.fr/

Web Site non official of la Défense from french forumer Spoudzzi :
http://www.defense-92.com/

EVERY PICTURES ARE FROM SPOUDZZI/DEFENSE92.COM

CNIT renovation :







NEW HOTEL SAS RADISSON :
Surface area: 23 900 sqm
Architect : VASCONI
Promoter: Vinci immobilier
Rooms : 343
Delivery : after 2010




NEW RAIL STATION BEHIND THE GRANDE ARCHE :




EX-GAN (CB21) TOWER renovation :





PRAETORIUM LOW RISE :





FIRST TOWER :




TOWER CARPE DIEM :
Investissor : Aviva
Architect : Robert A.M. Stern Architects WITH Hines
Surface : 45 000 SQM SHON
Delivery : 2012
Height: 166 meters
Levels : 32










GENERALI TOWER :
Investissor : Generali
Investissment : 500 Millions €uros
Architect : Valode et Pistre
Promoter : Vinci Immobilier
Height : 318 meters
Levels : +/- 46
Surface : 90 000 sqm
Delivery : 2012






C1 LOW RISE :




BASALTE BUILDING Société Générale Trading Room :
Surface : 42800 sqm
Influence on the ground : 180m Length of 34m width
Developper : Nexity Entreprise
Architects: Ateliers 2 3 4 - Jean Mas
Engineering consulting : Coteba





QUAI 33 (ANJOU) TOWER renovation :
before :

after :




NEW UNDERGROUND PARKING Parking des Vosges :


EX-BAYER BUILDING now AVISO :renovation



EVERY TOWERS PLANNED :

D2 TOWER :


HERMITAGE TOWERS :
Promoter : Hermitage a russian investissor
Investissment : 2,5 billions euros
Architect : Norman Foster
Height : 323 meters
Levels : Tower A : 91 / Tower B : 93
Surface 250 000 sqm : 150 000 luxurious residentials, 35 000 hôtel, 30 000 offices and 35 000 retails.
Beginning of work : end 2010
Delivery : 2014
Localization : replacement of Damiers low rises (La Défense 1)


AIR2 TOWER :
Investissor : Carlyle
Architects : Arquitectonica & Arte Charpentier
Promoter : Bouygues Immobilier / BNP Paribas Immobilier
Height : 220 meters, 9 facades
Levels : 42
Surface : 79 000 m² SHON
Capacity : 5 300
Localization : replacement of tower Aurore + orders BNP
Delivery : after 2013





AVA TOWER :
Investissor : Generale Continetale Investissements
Architect : Manuelle Gautrand
Levels : 34 and a 2 levels building
Height : 140 meters
Surface : 58 850 sqm
Localisation : Replacement of Berkeley building
Parking : 315 cars places, 140 motorbikes places and 140 bicycles places
Delivery : 2013

Originally Posted by _Barca_

What about the other two supertalls?

Hermitage Plaza will create a new community to the east of la Défense, in Courbevoie, that extends down to the river Seine with cafés, shops and a sunny public plaza at its heart.
Designed by Foster + Partners the project incorporates two 323-metre-high buildings – the tallest mixed-use towers in Western Europe, which will establish a distinctive symbol for this new urban destination on the Paris skyline.
The result of a close collaboration with Epad, the city of Courbevoie, atelier de paysage urbain and département de Hauts-de-Seine, the project is intended to inject life into the area east of la Défense by creating a sustainable, high-density community.
Due to start on site in 2010 and complete by the end of 2014, the two towers accommodate a hotel, spa, panoramic apartments, offices and serviced apartments, as well as shops at the base.
Forming two interlocking triangles on plan, the buildings face one another at ground level.
Open and permeable to encourage people to walk through the site, the towers enclose a public piazza which establishes the social focus.
As they rise, the towers transform, turning outward to address views across Paris.
The glazed façade panels catch the light, the sun animating different facets of the buildings as it changes direction throughout the day.
The angle of the panels promotes self-shading and vents can be opened to draw fresh air inside, contributing to an environmental strategy that targets a breeam ‘excellent’ rating.
The diagrid structure is highly efficient.
A crystal-shaped podium building contains office space, with two detached satellite buildings housing a gallery and auditorium that further extend the public realm.
The piazza – created by burying the existing busy road beneath a landscaped deck – slopes gently downward to the water’s edge, which is lined with new cafés and restaurants.

link : http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat...is-france.html

Originally Posted by Elio di Angelis

Wauw wow, i like it all. D2 is great.

more about D2 TOWER :



Investissor : Sogecap
Architects : A.Bechu (France) With Tom Sheehan
Promoter(Developer) : SOGEPROM and Bouygues Immobilier
Surface : 54 000m² SHON
Delivery : after 2012
Height : 150 meters/492 feet
Levels : 37
Capacity : 3600 personnes





FIDUCIAL TOWER :
Investissor : Fiducial
Height :126,60 meters
Levels : 39 ????
Surface : 46 050 sqm



MAJUNGA TOWER :
Investissor : Unibail
Architect : Jean-Paul Viguier
Promoter : Unibail
Surface : 75 000 sqm
Delivery : after 2012
Localisation : behind Ariane TOWER
Height : 180 meters
Levels : 44



PHARE TOWER :
Investissor : Unibail
Architect : Thom Mayne
Promoter : Unibail
Surface : 130 000 sqm
Height: 300 meters







SIGNAL TOWER : JEAN NOUVEL
Investissment : 600 millions euros
Architect : Jean Nouvel
Height : 301 meters
Levels : 71 étages
Surface 140 000 sqm : 50 000 offices, residential 33 000, hôtel 39 000, equipment public 8 000, shops restaurants 10 000.
Delivery : after 2015
Localization : over national road 314 behind Quatre Temps shopping center, between Kupa and Pacific towers.





MAP OF LA DEFENSE WITH EVERY PROJECTS :


LA DEFENSE
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_D%C3%A9fense




La Défense is a major business district for the city of Paris, bordering Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of the city itself.
With a population of 20,844, it is centered in an oval freeway loop straddling the Hauts-de-Seine département municipalities of Nanterre, Courbevoie and Puteaux.
The district is at the westernmost extremity of Paris' 10 km long Historical Axis, which starts at the Louvre in Central Paris and continues along the Champs-Élysées, well beyond the Arc de Triomphe before culminating at La Défense.


PICTURE FROM JP.


Around its 110-metre (360 ft)-high Grande Arche and esplanade ("le Parvis"), the district holds many of the Paris urban area's tallest high-rises.
With its 77.5 acres (314,000 m2), its 72 glass-and-steel slick buildings including 14 high-rises above 150 metres (490 ft), its 150,000 daily workers and 3.5 million square metres (37.7 million sq ft) of office space, La Défense is Europe's largest business district.



History














La Défense is named after the iconic statue, La Défense de Paris, which was built in 1884 to commemorate the soldiers who had defended Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
The name of the area sometimes causes confusion with visitors, who occasionally assume it is some kind of military zone or establishment.

In September 1958, The Public Establishment for Installation of La Défense (EPAD) buildings (of which the Esso Tower was the very first) were built and began to slowly replace the city's factories, shanties, and even a few farms.
The Center of New Industries and Technologies (CNIT) was built and first used in 1958.
These "first generation" skyscrapers were all very similar in appearance, limited to a height of 100 metres (330 ft).
In 1966, the Nobel Tower was the first office building built in the area.

In the early 1970s, in response to great demand, a second generation of buildings began to appear, but the economic crisis in 1973 nearly halted all construction in the area.
A third generation of towers began to appear in the early 1980s.
The biggest commercial centre in Europe (at the time), the Quatre Temps, was created in 1981.
In 1982, the EPAD launched the Tête Défense competition to find a monument to complete the Axe historique, which eventually led to the construction of Grande Arche at the west end of the quarter.
During the same period, hotels were constructed, the CNIT was restructured, and in 1992 Line 1 of the Paris Métro was extended to La Défense, which made the area readily accessible to even more of the city.

On Bastille Day 1990, French electronic composer Jean Michel Jarre staged an ambitious concert at the site, using the Grande Arche and three of the area's towers as projection screens, and building a pyramidal stage above the road.
The free concert, titled simply Paris la Defense attracted two million spectators, stretching all the way back to the Arc de Triomphe.
This beat Jarre's own previous world record for the largest attendance for a musical concert.

After a stagnation in new development in the mid-1990s La Défense is once again expanding and is now the largest purpose-built business district in Europe.

Important corporations headquartered at La Défense include Cegetel, Société Générale, Total, Aventis, Areva and Arcelor.
The tallest skyscraper belongs to Total, constructed in 1985.
It is 187 metres (610 ft) high, has 48 floors, and is the second highest inhabited building in the Paris area (the first being the Tour Montparnasse; the tallest building in Paris is the Eiffel Tower).

A new era: "La Défense 2006-2015"


New high-rises of 185 m (610 ft) are currently under construction and planned for a 2008 opening : Tour Granite and Tour T1.
In December 2005, Bernard Bled, CEO & Chairman of EPAD (La Defense Management & Development Office) announced an ambitious 9-year development plan called "La Defense 2006-2015".


This important modernisation plan has to give a new dimension to the district and focuses on four main axes: regenerate outdated skyscrapers, allow new buildings, improve the balance between offices and residential housing and make the transport of local employees from their homes to La Défense easier.


There are 3 aims: building 150 000 square metres (1 600 000 sq ft) of offices within demolition/rebuilding projects, building 300 000 square metres (3 200 000 sq ft) of offices within new projects and building 100 000 square metres ( 1 100 000 sq ft) of housing.
The government confirmed in July 2006 this plan which has to be carried out around 2015.
It is justified by the strong estate pressure, which plays in favour of building new skyscrapers near Paris.


Those constructions have also the advantage to be more economical than little buildings.
But it will have to overcome some difficulties: French economy faces a short-term slowdown; the government tries to balance tertiary sector employment in the whole region again, because La Défense today concentrates a major part of those jobs; and traffic is already saturated in the district, while it would need huge investments to extend transport infrastructures.


It launched high profile international competitions and/or construction greenlight of several key 300-to-320-metre (980 to 1,000 ft) tall sustainable development-style skyscrapers such as Tour Signal, Tour Phare, Hermitage Plaza and Tour Generali.
During said December 2005 Press Conference, EPAD released to the public an elaborate 3D animation film titled "La Défense 2015".


Area specifications

Divided into 12 sectors
400 acres (1.6 km2)
3,500,000 square metres (37,700,000 sq ft) of offices
1,500 businesses (of which 14 from the national top 20 and 15 from the global top 50)
150,000 employees
20,000 residents
210,000 square metres (2,300,000 sq ft) of shops (including the 120,000 square metres (1,300,000 sq ft) Quatre Temps Shopping Mall, the largest in Continental Europe)
2,600 hotel rooms
310,000 square metres (3,300,000 sq ft) of flagstone and sidewalk
110,000 square metres (1,200,000 sq ft) of greenery
60 modern art sculptures and monuments

[Busy Bee]

Wow, that's a lot of growth in a short period of time. And while Paris by design is commercially decentralized and does not have a "downtown", I'm sure many western tourists will unfortunitely make the distinctinction that La Defense is in fact "downtown Paris."

[benoi]

yes everything is true what you says ! paris downtown is la Défense. The situation of paris is very honorable clever intelligent.Cities likes Frankfurt Warzawa (Varsovie) or London prefers destroy their historic center.and for 50 years Pompidou or de Gaulle presidents said :" we have to build developp skyscrapers a modern district in the parisian suburbs for preserving Paris historic center.30 millions of tourists are coming to paris yearly not for showing skyscrapers but for seeing the most preserved center in the world with roma and venice.star architect Peï said too : we have nothing to preserve in the United States in the downtowns of NYC or chicago or LA we can build skyscrapers everywhere, but paris had choosen the most intelligent solution build skyscrapers out of the paris area. Prinz Charles said :"our architects in london has destroyed london inner-city and canary wharf cames 20 years too late.they had to do samely as in paris at la defense building every scrapers in canarywharf."we dont need skyscrapers in paris inner-city : suburbs ile de france and paris are an unique powerfull country !
sorry my english is bad!

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by benoi

star architect Peï said too : we have nothing to preserve in the United States in the downtowns of NYC or chicago or LA we can build skyscrapers everywhere,

He would say that, wouldn't he?

I've never been to La Defense, but from this pictures it seems like a fairly pedestrian unfriendly place. Is that an accurate statement? It looks like maybe part of this project will be providing some human scale to the area. I'm fascinated to say the least.

[benoi]

dear forumer, for me La défense district near on paris is an unique overall planning.i would say more it' an architectural prototype of the fifties-sixties-seventies ! A pure fantasy, an utopian vision, FULL CONCRETE- "any concrete" thinking Praised by Le Corbusier.at this time (fifties-sixties-seventies) the architects and all the society also reasoned "everything for the car" and only concrete.LA defense was build with an idea of Le Corbusier : separating every ways of locomotion, cars in underground roads and pedestrian people walking on large paving stones squares. la défense has the largest pedestrian suspended square in the world : la defense has 10 miles underground roads and the biggest underground garage 30 000 places for cars.la defense is an unique urbanistic architectural frenzy.i was in ONtario, skyscrapers are higher in toronto but la defense impresses me more.the towers do not impress a lot at la defense because they do not exceed 180 meters but especially its the architectural conception of the district which is amazing.la defense is a franzy a prototype of The Athens Charter, or Charte d'Athènes, a design for urban planning(1931-1933).

here for explaining :

at first the high rises (towers with sqm offices)
than the low residential buildings
than on the floor every shops restaurants squares fontains a lot of equipments
after the underground area :
1.cars garages
2.the roads.
3.the trams rails metro tube lines and their stations.

la defense is an unique Contemporary Venice without cars.
When I am in this district I always have the impression to travel in the time or 50 years behind or in the future.you cannot stay indifferent.please tou have to visit it !
sure Manhattan or dubai or pudong are more impressive with their 400-600 meters towers of course.

[benoi]

Originally Posted by breathesgelatin

He would say that, wouldn't he?

I've never been to La Defense, but from this pictures it seems like a fairly pedestrian unfriendly place. Is that an accurate statement? It looks like maybe part of this project will be providing some human scale to the area. I'm fascinated to say the least.

La defense was built according to a master plan of 1956 and after an other plan of 1964, following a very precise and very rigorous mass plan, overall planning.

plan of 1956 by french urbanists mailly camelot zehrfuss.


plan of 1964 by the same architects



other maquette :


here the princip of la defense:

a suspended slab with underground cars garages, undergRound roads, trams, rail, metro lines and their stations.
over the slab low residential rises and high offices rises AND SHOPS GREEN PARKS.

THE PRINCIP : SEPARATE WALKERS AND DRIVERS.
ROADS AND CARS UNDERGROUND PEOPLE GOING ON FOOT ON A SLAB.

THIS WAS A TYPICAL VISION, A TYPICAL URBANISTIC THINKING OF THE FIFTIES SIXTIES.

for me la defense is a prototype, an urbanistic fantasy, an architectural Try(Essay). an ideal science-fiction baby or realisation. a modern venice.

[Minato Ku]

Originally Posted by benoi

yes everything is true what you says ! paris downtown is la Défense. The situation of paris is very honorable clever intelligent.Cities likes Frankfurt Warzawa (Varsovie) or London prefers destroy their historic center.and for 50 years Pompidou or de Gaulle presidents said :" we have to build developp skyscrapers a modern district in the parisian suburbs for preserving Paris historic center.30 millions of tourists are coming to paris yearly not for showing skyscrapers but for seeing the most preserved center in the world with roma and venice.star architect Peï said too : we have nothing to preserve in the United States in the downtowns of NYC or chicago or LA we can build skyscrapers everywhere, but paris had choosen the most intelligent solution build skyscrapers out of the paris area. Prinz Charles said :"our architects in london has destroyed london inner-city and canary wharf cames 20 years too late.they had to do samely as in paris at la defense building every scrapers in canarywharf."we dont need skyscrapers in paris inner-city : suburbs ile de france and paris are an unique powerfull country !
sorry my english is bad!

I clearly desagree downtown Paris is central Paris, it does have more jobs and office space than La Defense.
Secondly if they build la Defense here, it is due at the lacks of space in central Paris not at the fear to build skyscraper in Central Paris or Montparnasse, Italie13, Beaugrenelle... would never be build.
At this time they did'nt care at all of the toursit, the most important was the country growth.

Secondly protecting Central Paris for something that produce 2% of the economy and only low paid salary is stupid, expecially when this area is the center of a huge transportation system.
In reality the tourism is more a danger than a chance for Paris, it destroy the reality of the city, it create ghetto, it destroy the economy... look at how awful is the district aroud the Louvre, only tourists... where is Paris diversity ?

We need skyscrapers in inner Paris, of course not near Notre dame or the Louvre... but in district like Montparnasse, Beaugrelle, Porte Maillot that already have it.
The suburbs are not always the answer as these don't have the big transportation system that serve the inner city.

[benoi]

"but in district like Montparnasse, Beaugrelle, Porte Maillot" ...why not ...or near on the boulevard periphérique this urban freeway : porte de versailles, montreuil, de la chapelle per example.
far from the historic center.

[Minato Ku]

Of course for skyscrapers I don't speak of districts like Louvre, or Marais but many people tend to confuse inner Paris with the historical center, large parts of inner Paris were not urbanised 150 years ago.

Anyway we shouldn't be against low-rises modern buildings in the historic center, there is already modern buildings in the Marais, near the Louvre...
By exemple the avenue des Champs Elysees itself is not really historic, most building here were erected after the WW1.
The lattest addition was in 2007.



La Defense will always be Paris main skyscrapers but several other cluster are necessary and Paris center should not become a museum.
It is the center of a 12 million bustling and global metropolis, unlike Venice.

[benoi]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Wow, that's a lot of growth in a short period of time. And while Paris by design is commercially decentralized and does not have a "downtown", I'm sure many western tourists will unfortunitely make the distinctinction that La Defense is in fact "downtown Paris."

Yes Parisian DOwntown is the historic center.and la defense business district was created for 50 years (1958 exactly) for preserving paris.every majors towers skyscrapers are at la defense, an area in Puteaux Courbevoie and Nanterre 3 cities in the west parisian suburbs. we have skyscrapers in paris district but not in the center like in london in frankfurt or in varsovie-poland.
Paris area has 50 millions sqm offices (16 millions in paris city and 34 millions in the suburbs), second market in the world behind Tokyo, LOndon has 35 millions sqm offices and Manhattan 40 millions. La defense district has 4 millions sqm offices, Canary Wharf 1,5 millions sqm.
But mostly sqm officez are in paris city : 16 millions sqm offices

[muppet]

wow, very impressed. Go paris!

[benoi]

PARIS LA DEFENSE. Upcoming highrise buildings. (2008-2015)



SUMMARY TABLE

Tower Hermitage Plaza II. mix. 323 meters. 1,060 feet. 93 levels. proposed. 2015
Tower Hermitage Plaza I. Total project 250 000 sqm. mix. 323 meters. 1,060 feet. 91 levels. proposed. 2015
Tower Generali. 90 000 sqm. office. 318 meters. 1,043 feet. 50 levels. beginning. 2013
Tower Signal. 140 000 sqm. office. 301 meters. 988 feet. 71 levels. approved. 2015
Tower Phare. 130 000 sqm. office. 300 meters. 984 feet. 68 levels. approved. 2015
Tower First. 86.700 sqm. office. 231 meters. 787 feet. 55 levels. under reconstruction. 2011
Tower Air2. 79 000 sqm. office. 220 meters. 720 feet. 43 levels. approved. 2014
Tower Majunga. 75 000 sqm. office. 180 meters. 591 feet. 42 levels. approved. 2013
Tower D2. 54 000 sqm. office. 160 meters. 574 feet. 37 levels. approved. 2013
Tower Carpe Diem. 45 000 sqm. office. 166 meters. 525 feet. 32 levels. under construction. 2012
Tower AVA. 58 850 sqm. office. 143 meters. 459 feet. 34 levels. approved. 2013
Tower Fiducial. 46 050 sqm. office. 127 meters. proposed. (in front of Tower AVA)
Basalte Building (Immeuble Marchés /trading room). 42 851 sqm. office. under construction. 2011
Hôtel SAS Radisson La Défense. 23 900 sqm. 87 meters. 285 feet. 23 levels. approved. 2011

[benoi]

Originally Posted by muppet

wow, very impressed. Go paris!

thanks muppet but london is impressive too !

[benoi]

[benoi]

PARIS LA DEFENSE 2015. TOM MAYNE.PHARE TOWER



ARCHITECT TOM MAYNE.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Tom MAYNE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thom_Mayne



Thom Mayne (b. January 19, 1942 in Waterbury, Connecticut) is a widely recognized Los Angeles based architect.
Educated at University of Southern California (1969) and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1978, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC) in 1972.
Since then he has held teaching positions at SCI-ARC, Cal Poly Pomona and UCLA.
He is principal of Morphosis, a renowned architectural office located in Santa Monica, California.



Mayne received the Pritzker Prize in March 2005.

PARIS LA DEFENSE 2015. TOM MAYNE.PHARE TOWER.
• Video Link
• Video Link
I 'am sorry i didn't find videos in english, but nice for the pictures.



The Phare Tower (Tour Phare, commonly called Le Phare in French) is a planned approx. 300-meter-tall skyscraper with 71 floors designed as a green building to be built in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine), France, in the La Défense district of suburban Paris.



The building is being designed by Los Angeles-based Morphosis, headed by architect Thom Mayne, and is scheduled to be completed in 2014.
When completed, it will be the tallest skyscraper in Paris and one of the tallest in the European Union.



Name
While the French word phare means lighthouse (from Pharos) when employed alone, it also applies to any source of light used as a beacon.
In this context, phare is used to describe the tower as something that will bring attention.
Tour Phare is then meant to bring an architectural beacon to the periphery of Paris and more specifically La Défense.



Information
Location La Défense (Courbevoie, Paris Area. France)
Status Approved
Groundbreaking 2010
Estimated completion 2014
Use Office
Height Antenna/Spire ~300 m (984 ft)



Technical details
Floor count 71
Floor area ~130,000 m² (1,399,300 sq ft)
Companies
Architect Morphosis (Thom Mayne)
Structural Engineer IBE Consulting Engineers (MEP)



FABULOUS WEB SITE IN ENGLISH ABOUT TOWER PHARE
http://morphopedia.com/projects/phare-tower
PHARE TOWER LIGHT SIMULATION.......AMAZING
http://morphopedia.com/files/phare-t...ght-simulation



The planet Earth ever saw nothing so strange, revolutionary and unique. The most strange, revolutionary and unique TOWER of every time.

[benoi]

GENERALI TOWER.

FRENCH ARCHITECT VALODE&PISTRE. 300 METERS HEIGHT.
BEGINNING OF WORK / END 2009.

The regeneration of La Defense gets a green emblem in Generali Tower
As part of the EPAD’s recently launched campaign “renouveau de la Défense,” the Group Gererali in conjunction with the developer Vinci Immobilier, have unveiled the development of a new office tower designed by the international competition laureate Valode & Pistre Architects.

The slender silhouette of the Generali Tower will add a new landmark to the skyline of la Défense.
Its form and location will contribute to the urban renewal of the business district sought by the EPAD, addressing both the pedestrian and the vehicular levels of its immediate context.

Sustainability is at the heart of the architectural concept of the Generali Tower.
The building’s innovative structure and envelope, as well as the choice of its technical and mechanical equipments - opening windows, suspended gardens at all levels - will enhance the user’s comfort whilst reducing energy consumption.
The production of renewable energies has also been incorporated in the tower’s design, 18 vertical axis wind turbines, 1,700 sq m of photovoltaic cells and 600 sq m of solar panels are located in the towers central spire, giving it a unique silhouette in La Défense.

Encompassing 90 000 sq m (nearly 1 million sq ft) of gross floor area, the tower will house various facilities including an auditorium, club lounges, numerous restaurants and a crèche.
Delivery of the tower is scheduled for 2013.

[benoi]

[benoi]

tower first in progress !

[benoi]

A new era: "La Defense 2006-2015"
La Defense on the Northern circular boulevard.


1.Tower Generali. 90 000 sqm. office. 318 meters. 1,043 feet. 50 levels. beginning. 2013
2.Tower Phare. 130 000 sqm. office. 300 meters. 984 feet. 68 levels. approved. 2015
3. CB21 TOWER EX-GAN.
4.Tower First. 86.700 sqm. office. 231 meters. 787 feet. 55 levels. under reconstruction. 2011
6.Tower Air2. 79 000 sqm. office. 220 meters. 720 feet. 43 levels. approved. 2014
7.Tower Majunga. 75 000 sqm. office. 180 meters. 591 feet. 42 levels. approved. 2013
8. TOWER T1
9.TOWER GRANITE
10.Tower D2. 54 000 sqm. office. 160 meters. 574 feet. 37 levels. approved. 2013

New high-rises of 185 m (610 ft) are currently under construction and planned for a 2008 opening : Tour Granite and Tour T1.
In December 2005, ⇒Bernard Bled, CEO & Chairman of ⇒EPAD (La Defense Management & Development Office) announced an ambitious 9-year development plan called ⇒"La Defense 2006-2015".

This important modernisation plan has to give a new dimension to the district and focuses on four main axes:
regenerate outdated skyscrapers,
allow new buildings,
improve the balance between offices and residential housing
and make the transport of local employees from their homes to La Defense easier.



There are 3 aims:
building 150 000 square metres (1 600 000 sq ft) of offices within demolition/rebuilding projects,
building 300 000 square metres (3 200 000 sq ft) of offices within new projects
and building 100 000 square metres ( 1 100 000 sq ft) of housing.

The government confirmed in July 2006 this plan which has to be carried out around 2015.
It is justified by the strong estate pressure, which plays in favour of building new skyscrapers near Paris.
Those constructions have also the advantage to be more economical than little buildings.



But it will have to overcome some difficulties: French economy faces a short-term slowdown; the government tries to balance tertiary sector employment in the whole region again, because La Defense today concentrates a major part of those jobs; and traffic is already saturated in the district, while it would need huge investments to extend transport infrastructures.

It launched high profile international competitions and/or construction greenlight of several key 300-to-320-metre (980 to 1,000 ft) tall sustainable development-style skyscrapers such as Tour Signal, Tour Phare, Hermitage Plaza and Tour Generali.

[benoi]

La Defense Gets New Look



The main Paris business district of La Defense is getting a makeover with new buildings, a more people-friendlier orientation and additional residential housing.
The business district, which is the largest such designated area in Europe, was created in the late 1950s as a center for modern businesses and to keep the new skyscrapers from altering the traditional look of the city.
It is located on the western edge of Paris and contains a number of modern buildings as well as many sculptures and outdoor art works.

The La Defense Management & Development Office announced a new development plan to modernize and regenerate the district in 2006.
Over the past several years there have been a number of new buildings as well as an increased focus on ecological factors and a higher quality of life for those who live and work here.
The entire La Defense regeneration project is set for completion in 2015.

Several iconic skyscrapers are planned for La Defense, such as Tour Generali, Tour Signal,
and the two Hermitage Plaza towers, which are being designed by Sir Norman Foster.


Tour Signal is planned for West Gate and is meant to open up the district to the municipality of Puteaux.

Tour Generali is being constructed for the Italian insurance company, Assicurazioni Generali, and is being constructed on the site of the old Iris building.
It will be very green oriented, with photovoltaic cells and water collection units to keep operating costs to a minimum.
The whole area will become a more enjoyable place to work and live when the project is complete.