Work on Morphosis's Tour Phare is about to begin
Unibail-Rodamco has announced that work on the Tour Phare will start in the coming months. Completion of the tower and its public spaces is expected in the first half of 2017. The project is part of the La Défense revitalisation plan, which aims to renew Europe's leading business district and was decided in 2006 by Nicolas Sarkozy, then president of the Hauts-de-Seine conseil général.
The project dates back to 2006, when an international competition pitted Manuelle Gautrand, Jean Nouvel, Jacques Ferrier and others against one another. The winner was the American Thom Mayne of Morphosis. In August 2010, Unibail, the client, obtained planning permission following the revision of Puteaux's local land-use plan (POS). At 297 metres, the tower will be the tallest in France, though it has to be said that our neighbours across the Channel have been making their mark for several years now.
It will take only two minutes to reach the 70th floor. This is made possible by double-deck lifts, in which one car is stacked on top of another so that two floors are served at the same time. This system was invented by Otis for the Petronas Towers. So-called "convivial" staircases are intended to reduce the number of lift journeys. Thom Mayne has paid close attention to the aesthetics of his work: slender, supple, feminine, free – these are just some of the words that describe it. The silhouette of the tower changes with every viewpoint, and from some it can seem imposing next to its neighbours. The tower will be topped by a lobby some 75 metres high, offering views over Paris. At the summit, a restaurant is a nod to French culture. The slenderness of the 9,000 steel and glass scales will confuse the eye of the observer, who will be unable to tell where the tower really ends.
The tower combines steel and concrete. Like its neighbours, it rests on limestone bedrock 20 metres below ground level, while another part of its foundations sits on piers that pass through the tracks of the underground SNCF station. The tower's technical innovation is its slim concrete core, combined with a steel diagrid that acts like a "walking stick" for the core. This technique reduces sway, and was chosen after 17 calculation models. On site, the basements will be built at the same time as the upper floors rise. For the benefit of residents of Puteaux and Courbevoie, Unibail-Rodamco will build a temporary footbridge to make up for the demolition of the Carpeaux footbridge.
The environmental aspect completes the trio of the project's strengths. To live up to its name, the Tour Phare has a double-skin façade on the south side. The north façade is treated more radically: a single skin, offering complete transparency onto the activity within its 125,000 m² of usable floor space. Air handling is decentralised, so that each floor can manage its own needs. The energy generated by the lifts is recovered, as is the extract air. The Tour Phare is one of the first buildings to hold the Passeport Bâtiment Durable, certified HQE at Excellent level, and the client notes that it is aiming for the Exceptional level during construction. A dedicated website has been launched for the project, which is also on show at the CNIT.
Update: Olivier Bossard, Group Managing Director, Development, Unibail-Rodamco: "We are currently studying, together with Epadesa, various solutions for maintaining a pedestrian link between the La Défense esplanade and the Faubourg-de-l'Arche while work on the Tour Phare is under way. The route of this link has not yet been chosen, and it cannot be without dialogue with the stakeholders, first and foremost the town of Courbevoie."
As for the timetable:
end of 2011: EPADESA begins work to clear the site
second half of 2012: construction of the Phare begins.
- Architect: Morphosis
- Client: Unibail-Rodamco
- Location: La Défense district, Puteaux, 92, France
- Height: 297 metres
- Competition date: 2006
- Construction start: early 2012
- Completion date: first half of 2017
- Floor area: 125,000 m² usable
