PARIS | Tour Phare | 971 FT / 296 M | 71 FLOORS

[LeftCoaster]

^No kidding, why not just go for 300? I've never understood the group of buildings between 290 and 299m.

I still dont like the overall design but the details look just incredible.

[Derek2k32]

Originally Posted by Metropolitan

The building curves makes it really hard to draw as a diagram for SSP. As such, I came to the conclusion it would be better to make a 3D skechup model first in order to get a 2D render out of it.

Here's the 3D skechup model :
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...e1ce14e998bf00



And here's the 2D diagram for SSP I got out of it :


Large version

Looks ready to do the can-can.

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

^No kidding, why not just go for 300? I've never understood the group of buildings between 290 and 299m.

I still dont like the overall design but the details look just incredible.

Because developers are rarely, if ever, concerned with how their developments will be classified by skyscraper geeks like us - really the only group on the planet that's concerned with 290m vs. 300m. Their concern is the economic viability of their project, and more times than not, being classified as a "super tall," in any forum, rarely has a material impact on the marketability of their respective developments.

I'll agree with you on the details of this tower being pretty phenomenal. Living across the street from a Morphosis-designed building in LA, I can't wait for this one to go up.

[Vaillant]

Originally Posted by Fabb

After being the worst collection of bland, mediocre architecture, La Défense is turning itself into a freak show.

Why not a simple and elegant 90 story-tower ?

si à Paris vous n'en voulez pas de cette tour je la prend pour Montréal!

[Minato Ku]

No thanks we want it.

The main difficulty for Unibail is not a lack of money but the nimbies.
They can delay a project of several years and believe me, they don't like this tower (they don't like anything anyway).
I don't understand how some people can move near a skyscrapers district and then complaining when new skyscrapers are added.

[lake of the nations]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Bah! Allez, 4 metres de plus svp!!!

Peut-être une stratégie subliminale anti-nimby, comme de vendre des choses à 9.99 $ pour que ça ait l'air moins cher...

Anyway, I'm sure this tower will look great (if it ever gets built)!

[lake of the nations]

Florence Hubin | Published on 19.10.2011, 7:00
Tour Phare: Mayor blocks work

The mayor of Courbevoie broke negotiations yesterday with the developer of the Tour Phare after a dispute over the construction of a bridge.

This is a real stroke of the deputy mayor of Courbevoie. Jacques Kossowski (UMP) has returned in his nets the company Unibail-Rodamco, developer of the proposed Tour Phare. This skyscraper of 300 meters, which can accommodate 8000 employees, must stand within five years instead of "The Thumb" of Caesar, the square Carpeaux between the CNIT and the Faubourg-de-l'Arche.

The project requires the destruction of the existing bridge Carpeaux, which crosses the ring road to link up the eponymous neighborhood of Faubourg de l'Arche, pending the establishment of a new link. This is precisely the point of contention between the aedile and the promoter.

According to Jacques Kossowski, "the presentation of the tower by the developer does not include facilities that the city has sought to maintain the link between the walk-in Faubourg de l'Arche and the Esplanade de La Defense during the duration of the work. "Noting that its demands on the bridge, taken daily by about 30,000 pedestrians, were not heard, he broke off negotiations with Unibail.

"This company needs to understand that Courbevoie does not allow itself to dictate his conduct, the mayor fumed. The city wants to promote the use of Defense, but the priority must also incorporate the legitimate expectations of the inhabitants of the Faubourg." The expectations that the mayor listens more carefully since this district has shifted to the left to cantonal last, after a campaign focused on the very project of Phare tower.

[...]

http://www.leparisien.fr/hauts-de-se...11-1659489.php

_____


Florence Hubin | Publié le 19.10.2011, 07h00
Tour Phare : le maire bloque les travaux

Le maire de Courbevoie a rompu hier les négociations avec le promoteur de la tour Phare après un conflit sur l’aménagement d’une passerelle.

C’est un vrai coup de sang du député-maire de Courbevoie. Jacques Kossowski (UMP) vient de renvoyer dans ses filets la société Unibail-Rodamco, promoteur du projet de tour Phare. Ce gratte-ciel de 300 m qui pourra accueillir 8000 salariés doit se dresser d’ici cinq ans en lieu et place de la statue « le Pouce », de César, sur la place Carpeaux, entre le Cnit et le Faubourg-de-l’Arche.

Le projet nécessite la destruction de l’actuelle passerelle Carpeaux, qui enjambe le boulevard Circulaire pour relier la place éponyme au quartier du Faubourg-de-l’Arche, en attendant la création d’une nouvelle liaison. C’est justement là le point de discorde entre l’édile et le promoteur.

Selon Jacques Kossowski, « la présentation de la tour par le promoteur n’intègre pas les aménagements que la ville a demandés pour maintenir la liaison de plain-pied entre le Faubourg-de-l’Arche et l’esplanade de La Défense pendant la durée des travaux ». Constatant que ses exigences à propos de la passerelle, empruntée quotidiennement par quelque 30000 piétons, n’ont pas été entendues, il a rompu les négociations avec Unibail.

« Cette société doit comprendre que Courbevoie ne se laissera pas dicter sa conduite, fulmine le maire. La ville souhaite favoriser l’emploi sur La Défense, mais cette priorité doit aussi intégrer les attentes légitimes des habitants du Faubourg. » Des attentes auxquelles le maire prête une oreille encore plus attentive depuis que ce canton a basculé à gauche aux dernières cantonales, après une campagne très axée sur le projet de tour Phare.

[...]

http://www.leparisien.fr/hauts-de-se...11-1659489.php

[skyboy2011]

Weird building, but i sorta like it.

[whiteford]

nothing short of ghastly imo.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by lake of the nations

Florence Hubin | Published on 19.10.2011, 7:00
Tour Phare: Mayor blocks work
(...)
The project requires the destruction of the existing bridge Carpeaux, which crosses the ring road to link up the eponymous neighborhood of Faubourg de l'Arche, pending the establishment of a new link. This is precisely the point of contention between the aedile and the promoter.
(...)

Bah, that appears a little detail, an agreement will be found; maybe it's already done. Unibail-Rodamco announced just a couple of days ago that work would start in the next months. Unless the sovereign debt crisis striking southern Europe puts the economy down to a recession, it will most likely be going up pretty soon.

Here is the latest article we've got on that topic but man I'm far too lazy to translate their strange language. For instance:

Originally Posted by Journal de l'Architecte

Cette tour mixte l'acier et le béton.

... Ben ouais, du verbe mixter, bien sûr...

Originally Posted by Journal de l'Architecte

Les élancées des 9 000 écailles d'acier et de verre troubleront l'oeil de l'observateur qui ne saura déterminer la réelle fin de la tour.

woah...

[lake of the nations]

Originally posted by Journal de l'Architecte
La tour sera terminée par un lobby de quelques 75 mètres permettant de prendre des vues sur la ville de Paris.

75 mètres... Vraiment?

[mousquet]

^ Um yeah, that article is badly weird. Hopefully the statement supposed to come from Unibail that they reported was correct.

[mousquet]

Courbevoie's mayor is still blocking the construction for his pedestrian bridge between the esplanade and Faubourg-de-l'Arche which would absolutely require to be walk-in according to him. People should never have to use any elevator or escalator during the construction, he says. Unibail still couldn't find any solution satisfying him.
Note that the tower's actually on Puteaux's territory whereas Courbevoie will be the one subjected to its shadow and its wind effects without even collecting a single euro from taxes on businesses occupying the building. That is also why Courbevoie's mayor has never been really excited by that tower. Now he needs to show his voters that at least, he won't give up his walk-in bridge. As far as Puteaux's mayor is concerned, she feels totally cool about this project.
Here is another hilarious model:

http://www.pss-archi.eu/photos/membr...0277327nti.jpg

How spectacular claddings can be on renders and models! That one may even be a little bit too much so to speak... No doubt this nearly €1 billion building would feature some nice materials, though.

[mousquet]

This is the same kind of petition as for Hermitage Plaza. Please sign it if you wish Phare was already under construction. I repeat here what I said in the Hermitage Plaza thread.

Now seriously, see the fields at the bottom of the petition page, these are their meanings.

Prénom: your first name.

Nom de famille: your last name.

Ville: your hometown.

Pays: your country.
That drop list is filled in French, I'm translating a few countries' names which may not seem obvious.
Austria -> Autriche
Germany -> Allemagne
Hungary -> Hongrie
Netherlands -> Pays-Bas
New Zealand -> Nouvelle Zélande
South Korea -> Corée du Sud
Spain -> Espagne
Switzerland -> Suisse
United Kingdom -> Royaume Uni
United States -> États-Unis (at the bottom of the list because of the character É which developers of that site didn't want to manage properly).
That's enough, isn't it? Most countries' names are very similar in French and in English. For example if you're in Mexico or in Brazil, then simply choose Mexique or Brésil.

Adresse e-mail: any e-mail address you don't care too much about.

Montrer votre signature à tous ? Oui/Non: show anyone you've signed? yes/no.
You may choose the check button saying no, it doesn't matter at all. That's what I did myself because a few French forumers I wouldn't trust know my hometown.

Thank you for filling in those fields and then pushing the Signer cette pétition button. Do not do it twice or more like some did in France lol, it would ruin the credibility of this thing which already seems unsignificant. Still someone claiming to be Hermitage's CEO himself left a comment in there and it is actually believed that it was really him, so I guess it could be sort of a little helpful somehow.

[lake of the nations]

Originally Posted by mousquet

This is the same kind of petition as for Hermitage Plaza. Please sign it if you wish Phare was already under construction. I repeat here what I said in the Hermitage Plaza thread.

Thank you for sharing! I hope this will help this project with all the problems it's encountering. Vive le progrès!

[mousquet]

This exotic and likely iconic thing is everything but canceled. Unibail (that's healthy and locally influent, making heavy business) upheld their commitment to build it just the way it is at France's largest real estate show currently held in Cannes. Some would argue that it's too many speculative offices (and I wish it was more mixed use), but Unibail still claims they'll build it as soon as appeals are cleared despite a risky market context.

There will be a little bit of retail, especially a nice restaurant that will have the entire top floor for itself, but it remains a huge surface area of offices.

[mousquet]

They would be nice to build this tower before we all pass away.

http://www.tour-phare.com/client/doc...img_03_113.JPG

Click to enlarge and see the cladding, quite possibly a legend. They just would never give up on nice looking materials to such a thing, it's impossible. In fact, even the top looks terrific now that they improved it. Who the gross person said it was hair and wrongly influenced my naive opinion? It'd rather be the crown of thorns.

[mousquet]

Pwahlala this would be something for la Défense.


http://www.actuarchi.com

Her curves are actually something like sensual. Don't you think? The pedestrian ground would most definitely be embellished if the crazy tower, that's the unusual thing needed in the district was built.

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

^No kidding, why not just go for 300? I've never understood the group of buildings between 290 and 299m.

Only skyscraper geeks on this forum care about the difference between a 299 and a 300 meters high building. The 300 mark to define a super tall is completely arbitrary.

[mousquet]

This would be some of the latest renderings, never posted on here before, I believe.



The so called organic design is really one of a kind, supertall-like, pretty fascinating since the too long "hair" at the top was cut. And again, I guess Unibail-Rodamco would willingly unsheathe their thick checkbook to pay for cool materials to such an anchor of theirs.

I've got only 2 regrets left about this.

1 - It's slightly smaller than the Hermitage towers that will hide it in the cluster seen from Central Paris. That sucks because Hermitage's design is rather conventional and obviously ordinary compared to this odd more eccentric building that should be the major architectural attraction of the district for quite a long while. I bet tourists will finally move their butts more easily up to la Défense to check that thing out when it's built.

2 - It's not mixed-use enough. The mixed-use strategy's so obviously smarter by diversifying risk, while Unibail strangely keeps on relying on the office market exclusively. That's awkward, especially in this currently slow French economy. That's definitely the reason why it's taking so long for them to finally trigger construction. Some say Nanterre is not polished enough for this to host some high-end residential units or a luxury hotel, but I think that's a short-sighted point since Nanterre's been changing more and more significantly. It's been already gentrifying from building some contemporary residential midrises while the shortage of housing over the inner metro area has been so bad, and this is only the beginning. I think Phare could sell some ridiculous penthouses yet, particularly when that kind of products has been ridiculously missing all over the large metro area. Damn, that's outright hilarious today, when any single other worldclass city builds as many luxury condo towers as they can get.

Anyway, if you've looked forward to this, I say patience... I don't even know when this project was unveiled. 2006, right? Oh, a typically annoying Frenchman would answer - Yes, but it took 10 years for London to build their Shard that is still empty, huh!? BTW, is the London Shard actually vacant yet? I simply have no idea.