PARIS | Tour Saint-Gobain | 178 M | 39 FLOORS

[Fabb]

The real height of the building is only 289 m according to a source @ PSS.
I don't know if it's reliable.

[Zerton]

how far is construction?

[samoen313]

If I'm not mistaken, demolition of the low-rise this is replacing should have begun in May. I doubt actual construction will begin this year, but I can't seem to find the most up to date information aside from photos of the demo permits so I could be wrong.

[frozhalf]

if you want to follow the project

http://www.defense-92.com/generalilesphotos.html
(this website in french is very good for projects in La Défense, Paris)


The building Iris is not demolished yet, and I don't know when the construction will begin

[frozhalf]

The construction of the Generali tower will probably begin in spring 2010.


http://www.defense-92.com/lesnewsdeladefense.html

Originally Posted by defense-92.fr

Aujourd’hui seuls les travaux du projet de la tour Carpe Diem, commenceront avant la fin de l’année, ceux de la tour Generali devraient selon son directeur immobilier commencer au printemps 2010

[SkyscrapersOfNewYork]

Officially initiated in 2006, the Generali Tower will be built by developer Vinci Immobilier in conjunction with the Group Generali. With sustainability at the heart of the architectural design, the new tower is meant to enhance its occupant’s comfort while reducing energy consumption.

The tower will feature operable windows and suspended gardens at all levels. 18 vertical axis wind turbines, 1,700 sq m of photovoltaic cells, and 600 sq m of solar panels located on the tower’s central spire will provide the structure with a renewable source of energy. The 90,000 sq m (nearly 1 million sq ft ) structure will house various facilities including an auditorium, club lounges, numerous restaurants, and a nursery. With all these auxiliary facilities, the Generali is expected to greatly contribute to the urban renewal of the La Defense business district.

The Generali’s slim silhouette will add a new, green landmark to the Paris skyline, already home to the most skyscrapers of any metropolitan area in the European Union. Coming in at 318 meters tall, the Generali may not unseat the Eiffel Tower’s 324 meters, but the sustainable skyscraper will rule La Defense and be lauded as one of the tallest, and more importantly, greenest buildings in the European Union.



Read more: Paris’ Green Generali Tower to Rule La Defense | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/09/29/...de-and-pistre/



















































































Location La Défense
(Courbevoie, France)

Status approved

Constructed 2011-2014

Height
Antenna or spire 318 meters (1043 feet)

Technical details

Floor count 56

Floor area 90,000.00 m²

Companies involved

Architect(s) Valode & Pistre

Contractor Vinci

[Galik]

She has been scaled down last year to 265m and therefore has lost 6 floors.

[Biff]

I don't like it. The renderings however are fantastic, very futuristic.

[MolsonExport]

Bigger than life and twice as ugly.

[Infernal_Elf]

to be honest it looks like Trans america pyramids little brother and some other stuff has crash landed on the top looks a way bit to messy if you ask me.

would probably look much better if all the tops on the corner sides had the same height. or just the pyramid shape alone with a slope up from the base width. as for the rest of the cladding and such it looks very good.

[pattali]

^^^^^^

During my recent visit 20 days ago, I saw on actual site Iris building, workers are removing asbestos, deconstruction follow after.
I noted that the final high of 317 m is noticed on P.C. on Iris building.

Nice project !

[spartida]

You can see all the pics of the site here:

http://www.defense-92.fr/generalilesphotos.html

[Galik]

The height was change in 268 meters, no?

[Innsertnamehere]

the top is discusting! everything else on the project is good, but the top ruins it with its akwardness and uglieness...

[mousquet]

It will eventually be 870 feet tall 50 story indeed, around 670 feet tall to the roof saying how tall the syringe at the top is.
Renders of the latest version from defense-92.fr :



This model seems to feature the thing as it is currently as well :



Rumour from french site PSS has it that construction might start in april at last. For now they're still working on a few preliminary things, a car parking in particular but the low-rise that the tower will replace is not torn down yet. You can see what's going on over here.

[LanvinHomme]

Its not chic enough for Paris in my opinion...

[Troubadour]

Nice. Bringing Southeast Asia to the Immortal City of Lights. It looks good.

[mousquet]

Canceled. Translating an online article from the French business newspaper Les Échos :

Originally Posted by lesechos.fr

2011/07/11

Generali to give up their project in la Défense

After having worked on it for over 4 years and spent € 10 million in studies, the Italian management of the insurance company has finally given up their project. They didn't justify their decision.

The failure is rough, all the more so as the tower was expected to stand as the first symbol of la Défense's revival plan advertised by (President of the Republic) Nicolas Sarkozy in july of 2006. According to our sources, the Generali tower project has been purely and simply given up by the Italian management of the insurance company.
"Everything was ready. After several appeals against the building permit, over 4 years of work, nearly € 10 million invested in studies, it only remained to press the button to start construction", says adviser Christian Joubert who's been working on this 90,000 m² (around 970,000 sq. ft), 250-meter-tall project whose construction cost alone was € 330 million. The unjustified decision gives free expression to all kinds of interpretations within Generali's French subsidiary which was carrying the project enthusiastically and is not putting up easily with that waste.
Is it a consequence of the turmoil within the management of the company since former CEO Antoine Bernheim quitted in 2010? Or maybe a lack of trust in the market of the Parisian business district on which nearly 250,000 m² (around 2.7 million sq. ft) of new office space are planned from now to 2016, some buildings being already under construction? Unless the level of risk has eventually been determined too high when some recently renovated buildings as First or CB21 are not fully occupied yet?

Several "exit doors" (French idiom for options to get out of it)

"Generali is mainly struggling to market a real estate development operation in the Citylife district of Milan, Italy that is not unfolding as expected. That 150,000 m² (over 1.6 million sq. ft) project including 2000 apartments in some highrise buidings as well has been launched just before the crisis. They might want to see how they will come through over there before chancing another big work in France", an observer explains.
Still owner of the empty and cleaned Iris building which the Generali tower should have taken the place of, the insurance company has several possible exit options : they can renovate the existing (low-rise) building, sell their project of highrise -- the building permit that got over some appeals will remain valid for over 2 years -- or find some co-investors to go on with the operation.

Bad signal

"Some American opportunist funds could save much time and find something that suits them by purchasing an all-ready-to-go project", Epadesa notes, adding "some are already involved in la Défense". The Public Establishment for the Development of la Défense Seine Arche (Epadesa) is all interested in getting this project under construction for they would collect taxes that have to be paid to replace a 10-story building by 250-meter-tall tower.
This is not a comforting signal to the market anyway. Unless other investors are rubbing their hands from seeing a rival fading. And they're not missing : 2 other insurance companies Aviva and Predica launched the construction of their 47,000 m² (why wouldn't you guys forget the retarded foot unit, it sucks lol) building Carpe Diem; Société Générale's developer subsidiary Sogeprom should be building their D2's 54,000 m² soon; Unibail-Rodamco has begun the Majunga tower's construction and they would have signed a construction contract with Bouygues for the Phare tower which sovereign fund Adia from Abu-Dhabi would co-finance.

French original.

[lake of the nations]

What?! This is terrible! Generali was among my favourite french proposals... I hope that (at least) «other investors are rubbing their hands from seeing a rival fading».

[mousquet]

As mentioned in the article, the story may not be over yet. Generali itself really doesn't appear in a position to make it for now but they could sell the project to another developer. It probably went far enough to get some interested but then the design of the tower could change more or less again depending on the hypothetical new investors' plan.

Originally Posted by lake of the nations

I hope that (at least) «other investors are rubbing their hands from seeing a rival fading».

Well Generali's difficulties are certainly taken by most as a bad news. I guess what's ironically meant in there is that competition sometimes makes weak human beings creepy with their ugly feelings. Everybody would agree with you, it'll always feel disturbing and must be blamed. On the other hand being ugly happens to almost everyone but superheroes.