PARIS | Projects & Construction

[brisavoine]

Meanwhile in Levallois... this poor Fiat Tower is almost entirely demolished now. Here are pictures taken today by a local on the French forum. Construction of the Levallois twin towers will start soon. But will they? Someone noticed today that the twin towers have disappeared from the Levallois town hall website. No more mention of them. Was the project cancelled? But then why would they be destroying the Fiat Tower if the project was cancelled? Again, you have to "admire" the level of secrecy surrounding Levallois, La Défense, and other Parisian projects. Hopefully if they decide to demolish the Eiffel Tower they will let us know in advance.

In any case, one of the French forumers called Fadesa, the Spanish developer, who did not mention that the project was cancelled. Quite the opposite, they actually confirmed that the height of the twin towers would be 165 m. (541 ft). So it would seem that the twin towers are still on the agenda, even though they have disappeared from the Levallois town hall website.

Fiat Tower in the final throes of agony.







Soon to be replaced by:

[909]

Great updates and information, thank you.

Isn't the tour signal proposed on the same location as the cancelled tour sans fin?

[brisavoine]

Latest news from the French forum:

• On October 2, the architect firms taking part in the architect contest for the 300 m. (1,000 ft) to 400 m. (1,300 ft) "tour signal" ("iconic tower") have submitted their projects. The winning project will be selected by a jury on November 24. There are about 10 architect firms taking part in this contest. Among them are: Herzog & de Meuron, OMA (Rem Koolhas), I.M. Pei, Valode & Pistre, Jean Nouvel, Manuelle Gautrand, Norman Foster, SOM, and probably also KPF. The "tour signal" is scheduled to start construction in July 2008 and take 48 months to be completed, which means it should be opened approximately in the summer of 2012.

• One guy read in Lettre M², a publication for real estate professionals, that the tower built by Italian insurer Generali in replacement of the Iris Building (see previous posts) would be 280 m. (918 ft) tall, and not 240 m. (787 ft) as I had reported earlier. This was earlier confirmed by another guy on the French forum, but until now I had thought it was only rumors. Apparently it's more than just rumors. Still according to Lettre M², the Generali tower was designed by architects Valode & Pistre. Its design is very daring apparently. It will contain 90,000 m² (970,000 sq ft) of office space.

• The Fiat Tower in Levallois-Perret is now fully torn down. One guy working with Fadesa, the Spanish developer, reported that now that the lot is empty, preparatory work will be conducted until July next year, and the 165 m. (541 ft) Levallois twin towers will start construction in August next year and will take 3 years to complete. They should thus be opened in the summer of 2010.

[Phobos]

Thanks for keeping us informed about what's going on this project.
I'm tired of text..I want RENDERS!

[brisavoine]

I imagine we will have renders in the end of November, when the winning project is selected. As for the Generali tower, there are already renders available from what I understand, some people have seen them, but they haven't been posted on any forum. As soon as someone post them, I (or other regular contributors) will post them here.

[B@dGuYoM]

Originally Posted by Phobos

Thanks for keeping us informed about what's going on this project.
I'm tired of text..I want RENDERS!

we all want renders since the announce of défense 2015 project

[KB]

Originally Posted by brisavoine

Fiat Tower in the final throes of agony.

OMG...look what they did to the building!!!

Dont we have building-rights activists?

[ZZ-II]

don't be sad , the new towers will be much better.

[bnmaddict]

At last, HERE'S THE FIRST RENDERING OF THE GENERALI TOWER!!!



Ok, it's super-small but it gives an idea of the design of this 240 or 280 m high tower (Height to be comfirmed). The architects are Valode et Pistre, who designed the T1 tower going up at LD right now.

The tower will be located at the eastern limit of LD near the Gan tower and the future CB31 you can see in this thread.

THIS IS NOT THE TOUR SIGNAL, we'll have to wait a bit more for it...

[bnmaddict]

Here's an article about the tower (in French, sorry for that), where you can learn that the tower will be 90000sqm, and will be built by Vinci (like Granite going up right now near LD), and that the Tour Signal will be 150.000sqm:

GENERALI LANCE 90 000 M² DE BUREAUX A LA DEFENSE


Generali donne le coup d’envoi du plan de renouveau de La Défense promu par l’Epad. L’assureur vient d’annoncer le lancement d’une nouvelle tour de 90 000 m² de bureaux. Le projet est conçu par les architectes Valode et Pistre, choisis au terme d’un concours international, et sera réalisé par Vinci Immobilier. La nouvelle tour se posera sur les fondations de l’immeuble Iris, un ensemble de 12 000 m² qui va être détruit. L'investissement s'élèverait autour de 500 M€
« La silhouette élancée de la Tour Generali constituera un nouveau signal dans le skyline de la Défense. Sa forme et son implantation contribueront à la requalification urbaine de la dalle piétonne et du boulevard circulaire voulue par l’Epad », expose Generali, qui entend bien concourir au projet de tour Signal lancé par Bernard Bled.
L’investisseur, qui a fait du développement l’un des axes stratégiques de sa politique d'investissement, place son projet immobilier sous le signe du développement durable. « La conception innovante de la structure et de l’enveloppe, et le choix des équipements du bâtiment associeront l’agrément des usagers à une recherche systématique de réduction des consommations d’énergie. La tour intègrera également des sources d’énergies renouvelables », détaille Generali.
Le projet de tour de Generali s’inscrit dans un contexte de refonte du quartier d’affaires de La Défense. Plusieurs tours sont actuellement en cours de construction ou de restructuration. Colony et Sitq ont lancé les travaux de la Tour T1, un ensemble de 70 000 m². La Société générale a posé la première pierre de sa Tour Granite, un ensemble de 68 000 m² qu’elle occupera. Axa Reim a confié à Cogedim la restructuration de sa tour – rebaptisée CB 31 – qui va offrir 87 000 m² de bureaux. Sans oublier Unibail qui projette de lancer 150 000 m² à côté du Cnit. L’Epad devrait pouvoir remplir son objectif de développer 300 000 m² de bureaux et d’en régénérer 150 000 m² supplémentaires d’ici 2013.

[Minato ku]

indeed it's very different than the others towers of La Defense

[eklips]

Arf I was going to put it but you went faster than me bnmaddict, 10 minutes lost for nothing lol

[B@dGuYoM]

A SUPER NEWS, I M SO HAPPY TONIGHT

[eklips]

I like the general idea, but something is wrong with this (small and aproximative) render, which I can't put my finger on.

[brisavoine]

Originally Posted by virtual

I like the general idea, but something is wrong with this (small and aproximative) render, which I can't put my finger on.

It's probably that it is too thick for what's supposed to be a 280 meters (919 ft) tower, i.e. almost the height of the Eiffel Tower. Put the Eiffel Tower next to it, only 10% taller, and you'll realize how fat this Generali tower looks on the rendering. I hope it's just due to a very bad rendering and the girth of the tower won't be that big in reality.

[ERIC]

It's not fat at all, it's just the perspective. A square tower is always thicker when you see it on the slant.

[bnmaddict]

Exact

[bnmaddict]

Someone should open a new thread about this tower!

[brisavoine]

Originally Posted by ERIC

It's not fat at all, it's just the perspective. A square tower is always thicker when you see it on the slant.

This is what I mean. If the rendering looked like this, I would say the girth of the tower looks more normal for a 280 meters tower.

[jef]

Originally Posted by bnmaddict

At last, HERE'S THE FIRST RENDERING OF THE GENERALI TOWER!!!

...

I can't believe this is for real. A vision maybe?

Originally Posted by bnmaddict

The architects are Valode et Pistre

Are they on drugs?

Seriously, could you please post the correct design, if released.