La Défense

La Défense
La Défense by night
Sovereign state France
Région Île-de-France
Département Hauts-de-Seine
Boroughs
List
Area
 • Total 14 km2 (5.4 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 • Total 20.000
Time zone UTC+01:00
Website www.ladefense.fr

La Défense (pronounced [la de.fɑ̃s]) is a major business district of the Paris aire urbaine. With a population of 20,000,[1] it is centered in an orbital motorway straddling the Hauts-de-Seine département municipalities of Nanterre, Courbevoie and Puteaux. The district is at the westernmost extremity of Paris's 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.

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 180,000 daily workers and 3.5 million square metres (37.7 million sq ft) of office space, La Défense is Europe's largest purpose-built business district. La Défense is seen as comparable to Canary Wharf in London: both are spaces where "statements of corporate ambition can be made", without thereby encroaching on the historical quarters of the city.[2]

Contents

History

La Défense is named after the iconic statue La Défense de Paris, which was erected in 1883 to commemorate the soldiers who had defended Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

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 1970 the RER line A railway was opened from La Défense to Étoile. In 1974 a contract for a Défense-Cergy high-speed hovercraft train was signed and soon abandoned.

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 Neuf Cegetel, Société Générale, Total, Aventis, Areva and Arcelor. The tallest skyscraper, the Tour First belongs to AXA, constructed in 1974. It is 231 metres (758 ft) high, has 50 floors, and is the highest inhabited building in the Paris area (a title previously held by the Tour Montparnasse, which was the tallest inhabited building until the Tour First was renovated between 2007 and 2011, bringing it to its current height from a previous 159 metres (522 ft); the tallest building in Paris is the Eiffel Tower).

On 9 September 2008, La Défense celebrated its 50th birthday with a huge fireworks display.[3]

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 1,050 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

La Défense tallest towers

Completed highrise buildings above 90 m (300 ft) (1967–2008)

Rank Name Built Use Height Levels Municipality
metres feet
1 Tour First (ex AXA, ex Assur) 1974/2010 office 231 787 55 Courbevoie
2 Tour Total 1985 office 187 614 48 Courbevoie
3 Tour T1 (GDF Suez) 2008 office 185 610 37 Courbevoie
4 Tour Areva 1974 office 184 607 44 Courbevoie
5 Tour Granite (Société Générale) 2008 office 183 603 37 Nanterre
6 Tour Gan 1974 office 179 587 42 Courbevoie
7 Tour Alicante (Société Générale) 1995 office 167 548 37 Nanterre
Tour Chassagne (Société Générale) 1995 office 167 548 37 Nanterre
9 Tour EDF 2001 office 165 541 41 Puteaux
10 Cœur Défense 2001 office 161 528 40 Courbevoie
11 Tour Adria (Technip) 2002 office 155 509 40 Courbevoie
Tour Égée (Ernst&Young) 1999 office 155 509 40 Courbevoie
13 Tour Ariane 1975 office 152 499 36 Puteaux
14 Tour CBX 2005 office 142 466 36 Courbevoie
15 Tour Défense 2000 1974 residential 136 446 46 Puteaux
16 Tour Europlaza 1995 office 135 443 31 Courbevoie
17 Tour Descartes (IBM) 1988 office 130 427 40 Courbevoie
18 Tour Les Poissons 1970 mixed 128 420 42 Courbevoie
19 Tour France 1973 residential 126 413 40 Puteaux
20 Tour Franklin 1972 office 120 394 33 Puteaux
21 Tour Sequoia (Bull, Cegetel, SFR) 1990 office 119 390 33 Puteaux
Tour Winterthur 1973 office 119 390 33 Puteaux
23 Tour Michelet (Total) 1985 office 117 384 34 Puteaux
Tour CB16 2003 office 90 295 27 Courbevoie
25 Tour Neptune 1972 office 113 371 28 Courbevoie
Préfecture des Hauts-de-Seine 1974 office 113 371 25 Nanterre
27 Grande Arche 1989 monument, office 110 361 37 Puteaux
Tour Manhattan 1975 office 110 361 32 Courbevoie
Tour Aurore 1970 office 110 361 29 Courbevoie
30 Tour Eve 1975 mixed 109 358 30 Puteaux
Tour Initiale 1967 office 109 358 30 Puteaux
32 Tour Nuage 1, Tours Aillaud 1976 residential 105 344 39 Nanterre
Tour Nuage 2, Tours Aillaud 1976 residential 105 344 39 Nanterre
34 Tour Gambetta 1975 residential 104 341 37 Courbevoie
35 Tour Cèdre 1998 office 103 338 26 Courbevoie
36 Tour Opus12 1973 office 100 328 27 Puteaux
Tour Athéna 1984 office 100 328 25 Puteaux
38 Tour Europe 1969 office 99 325 28 Courbevoie
Tour AIG 1967 office 99 325 27 Courbevoie
40 Tour Prisma (Tour Kvaerner) 1998 office 97 318 25 Courbevoie
41 Tour Atlantique 1970 office 95 312 27 Puteaux
Tour Pascal 1983 office 95 312 27 Puteaux
43 Tour Pacific 1992 office 90 295 25 Puteaux

Upcoming highrise buildings (2010–2016)

Name Use Height Levels Municipality Status (2008) Estimated Year of Completion
metres feet
Hermitage Plaza II mix 323 1,060 93 Courbevoie approved 2016
Hermitage Plaza I mix 323 1,060 91 Courbevoie approved 2016
Tour Phare office 297 974 68 Courbevoie approved 2016
Tour Generali office 265 869 50 Courbevoie cancelled[4] 2014
Tour Air² office 202 720 43 Courbevoie approved[4] 2014
Tour Majunga office 193 591 42 Puteaux under construction[4] 2013
Tour D2 office 171 574 37 Courbevoie under construction[4] 2013
Tour Carpe Diem office 166 525 32 Courbevoie under construction 2012
Tour AVA office 143 459 34 Courbevoie approved 2013
Hôtel Méridien La Défense hotel 87 285 23 Courbevoie approved  ?

Canceled projects

  1. Tour Sans Fins (1989): 425 m (1,394 ft)

Open-air museum

Besides the representative architecture, the area also houses around sixty statues and pieces of modern art including works of Joan Miró, Calder, Takis, Mitoraj, Venet, Agam, a piece of the Berlin Wall, Philolaos, Moretti, César and others[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Fallon, Steve; Annabel Hart (2006). Paris. Footscray, Victoria: Lonely Planet. p. 155. ISBN 1740598490. 
  2. ^ You’re scraping wrong part of the sky, Prince tells architects From The Times 1 February 2008, Alan Hamilton
  3. ^ La Défense : 50 ans d’histoire 9 November 2008, Danielle Birck (French)
  4. ^ a b c d L’Epad signe cinq nouvelles tours à la Défense 27 January 2010 (French)
  5. ^ (French) La Défense > Oeuvres d'art: Plan du musée à ciel ouvert. Leaflet published by Defacto, Établissement public de gestion du quartier d'affaires de la Défense.

External links