Paris has chosen an American architect to build the French capital's tallest new building since the Eiffel Tower in the 19th Century.
The new curving skyscraper will be the centrepiece of a redevelopment project in the north-west of Paris.

Thom Mayne's Los Angeles-based company Morphosis beat off rivals as prestigious as the UK's Norman Foster and France's Jean Nouvel.

Building regulations have kept tall buildings out of Paris for 30 years.

One notable exception is the Tour Montparnasse which rises 180 metres (590 ft) in the south-west of the capital.

An international jury announced the winner, following a contest organised by French property group Unibail as part of a project to revamp La Defense business district.

The Paris city government opposes plans for a new skyscraper in the district, but the project is backed by French public body EPAD, which is in charge of the district's wider renovation, AFP news agency reports.

Ecobuilding

At 300 metres (990 ft), the Lighthouse will come a close second to the Eiffel Tower, which rises to 324 metres.


PARIS TALL STRUCTURES
Eiffel Tower: 324 metres
The Lighthouse: 300 metres
Montparnasse: 180 metres

It is due to be completed in 2012 and will cost an estimated 800m euros ($1.05bn) to build.

Its twin structure will combine a rectangular base with a soaring, organic-shaped tower, capped by a field of wind turbines.

Unibail described the project as an "architectural event... that pays tribute to the major buildings in La Defense - the CNIT and the Great Arch".

Last year, Thom Mayne was awarded the Pritzker prize, the world's top architecture award.

"It's about an icon, and one of the major buildings in Paris," he said of the winning project.

He added the building would be "a prototype for a green building" with a wind farm generating its own heating and a "double skin" of steel and glass to a self-cooling mechanism for the hotter months.

His works include Los Angeles' new mass transit hub, the Taipei Design Centre and Seoul's Sun Tower.

Well, the Montparnasse tower is 210 meters, not 180 metres. Here is the full list of Paris Top 10:

• Eiffel Tower: 324 m, built
• Generali Tower: 300 m/310 m, approved
• Signal Tower (what you call "lighthouse"): approx. 300 m, approved
• AXA Tower: 225 m, heightening due to start by 2007
• Montparnasse Tower: 210 meters, built
• Total Tower: 187 m, built
• T1 Tower: 185 m, under construction
• Areva Tower: 184 m, built
• Granite Tower: 180 m, under construction
• Gan Tower: 179 m, built

Here is the SSP diagram for Paris:
http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?23993791

I posted this in the city compilation thread also, but here it is again.

From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/business/co...bizbriefs.html

BUSINESS DIGEST
U.S. architect's design is picked for Paris building.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

PARIS — U.S. architect's design picked for Paris building

Developers selected a design by an award-winning American architect for a bold new building powered partly by the wind.

Dubbed the Lighthouse, the 984-foot-high skyscraper will be designed by Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne and erected at La Defense, a complex of office towers in a business district west of Paris where many of France's major corporations are headquartered.

The building is set for completion in 2012.

Rendering:
http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/09/69/28/image_4928699.jpg
UNIBAIL-MORPHOSIS
Thom Mayne's design for a 984-foot-high skyscraper will rise over Paris when it is competed in 2012.

New Project - Unibail - 240 m
 

http://static.flickr.com/113/317184796_9938865a2d_o.jpg

The rendering was intentionally blurred by the architect (Viguier), probably because the design is not finalized.

This project is still to be officially announced. The height figure is just a rumour.

Generali : 318 m (1043 ft)
 

Latest news :

Generali will be 318 m from the ground level to the tip of the cone.
Start of construction : fall 2008

http://irgendwo.free.fr/generali/b.jpg

Info from the skyscraper forum (in French) :paris-skyscrapers

318??? The blueprint clearly says 300m to the tip of the cone.

^ I don't see anything American about it. Those highrises are much more stylish and architecturally interesting than anything going up in the US. In a sense, it's highrise design with a French touch..

That's from the artificial soil. The foot of Generali will meet the natural ground on the opposite side :

http://grrroux.free.fr/divers/generali.gif

(Diagram by Krapulax)

Here is a picture of La Défense nowadays:

http://irgendwo.free.fr/uneannee/2/5.jpg



And here are the projects we know of about La Défense by 2012:

http://grandparis.free.fr/upcoming-ladefense.jpg

Generali and AXA are very promising. But something's missing, like a tall centerpiece...
Obviously, the "Tour Phare" doesn't do the job.
Is there still hope for a substantial increase of height ? a nice redesign ?

I wouldn't be surprised if the Morphosis tower turns out to be 320/330 m at the top of the structure. However, I don't believe there's any reason to think it will go beyond.

Apparently, most of the first stage of the expansion plan of La Défense from 2006 to 2013 will be around the Northern circular boulevard, which is currently ending its modification from a motorway to an urban avenue. The Southern circular boulevard will also be modified as such, but this requires a larger investment.

Some gossips assumes that the second stage of the expansion plan, from 2013 to 2020, will see more towers on the southern side, nearby the southern circular boulevard. During that second stage, a 400 meter-tower is not excluded, however, its construction will depend on the evolution of the real estate market in the business district, and the success of the first stage.

New "official" renderings :

http://grrroux.free.fr/misc/tourm1.JPG

http://grrroux.free.fr/misc/tourm2.JPG

Apparently, the new name of the project is "tour M".

With those designs I wouldn't say it would look like an American skyline, but a skyline never seen before.

Three Cheers for the American skyline! That rendering just doesn't look very good...

I like the Tour M but the middle spire shouldn't better be built, a little to much imo

It is certainly a very weird unique looking design.

The entries of the "Tour Phare" competition :

Norman Foster :

http://dev2.batiactu.com/cap_diapo/i...6_175029_3.jpg

Massimiliano Fuksas :

http://dev2.batiactu.com/cap_diapo/i...6_175104_4.jpg

Manuelle Gautrand

http://dev2.batiactu.com/cap_diapo/i...6_180606_5.jpg

Rem Koolhaas-OMA :

http://dev2.batiactu.com/cap_diapo/i...6_175224_7.jpg

Nicolas Michelin :

http://dev2.batiactu.com/cap_diapo/i...6_175251_8.jpg

Jean Nouvel :

http://dev2.batiactu.com/cap_diapo/i...6_175316_9.jpg

Dominique Perrault :

http://dev2.batiactu.com/cap_diapo/i..._175345_10.jpg

Herzog & De Meuron :

http://dev2.batiactu.com/cap_diapo/i...6_180749_6.jpg

>>> Jacques Ferrier :

http://m1.freeshare.us/127fs1563537.jpg

http://m1.freeshare.us/127fs1564051.jpg

http://m1.freeshare.us/127fs1564235.jpg

http://m1.freeshare.us/127fs1564445.jpg

http://m1.freeshare.us/127fs1564550.jpg

http://m1.freeshare.us/127fs1564637.jpg

http://m1.freeshare.us/127fs1565076.jpg

http://m1.freeshare.us/127fs1565246.jpg

Wow!

Those range from awesome to retarded.

Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas-OMA seem ULTRA lame, where Herzog & De Meuron and Jacques Ferrier seem to stand out. Obviously, this is MY reaction, not fact, and these are still renderings.

Good stuff to choose from, it will be interesting to see what happens.

I agree. Both OMA and Jean Nouvel had the least favourite skyscraper entries in the Gazprom competition and it looks like, again, this might be the case. Normally I would say Foster has the best chance at this one, but judging from the last two competition winners, it's anyones guess. Personally, I love the H&dM, Gautrand, and Fuksas entries.

The winner was selected about three months ago. Thom Mayne, Morphosis :

http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/09/69/28/image_4928699.jpg

The above entries that were rejected, were just released a couple of days ago.