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  #1  
Old Posted Sep 27, 2010, 1:43 AM
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Thumbs up PARIS | Tour D2 | 525 Feet | 37 Floors

Quote:
The Squashed Gherkin Of Paris

Published on 16-09-2010 by Skyscrapernews.com

Construction is soon to start on a new skyscraper in Paris's central business district, La Defense.

The site is currently occupied by the VERITAS Building, one of the shortest blocks in the high-rise district and it is this which is going to be imminently demolished to allow the construction of the tower, D2.

With 37 floors and a height of 171 metres, D2 won't be the tallest building in the district but it will be one of the most distinct thanks to the structural diagrid on the exterior that looks more like a design from Foster and Partners than Architectes Anthony Bechu et Tom Sheehan.

With semi-circular curving ends book-casing the length of the towers footprint, and a curved roof where the top level of the building uses transparent rather than reflective glazing to strongly express the diagrid, the scheme is almost like a squashed gherkin.

The towers facade even tapers in marginally at the base to expand the public area around its boundary behind the diagrid just like that well known London skyscraper, whilst the top floor of the building will contain a sky garden with the cross-bracing looping over like whalebone.

Despite the economic problems that have halted many of the large projects in La Defence, Tour D2 the developer, Bouygues Immobilier is set to rise in 2011.

http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php?ref=2647


http://www.coloco.org/fichiers/_news...e-01-copie.jpg


http://www.linternaute.com/savoir/gr...-d2-370944.jpg


http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4950/66617540.jpg


http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:q...llekg3.jpg&t=1


http://www.defense-92.fr/photos/tourd2.bmp


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...s/6/67/Grf.jpg
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Last edited by Minato Ku; Feb 5, 2014 at 11:20 PM.
     
     
  #2  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2011, 12:17 PM
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Yes, but this time it's coming up! at last. So, for now they're just tearing down the low-rise that D2 will replace.
Pictures by Jex ; he took these yesterday afternoon, posted on french PSS :






I'm sure Jex is fluent in english by the way; just saying...
Get your shy butt over here Jex.
Kidding, still he'd be welcome on SSP as well, wouldn't he?

Okay, this is the schedule according to well-informed defense-92.fr :
  • Demolition of the Veritas building shown above from june to september 2011.
  • Work on the foundations from october 2011 to february 2012.
  • Construction of the infrastructure from february to late 2012.
  • Construction of the superstructure from november 2012 to late 2013.
  • Completion is expected by september 2014.

Can't wait. We saw someone saying it looked pretty similar to iconic Swiss Re nicknamed Gherkin or Cucumber in London. Kind of but then this one D2 should be a better Cucumber and I beg the Brits for not beating me here
Here's an additional render from above and taken from defense-92.fr, helping to figure :



We'll be following that.
     
     
  #3  
Old Posted Oct 11, 2011, 6:49 PM
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Demolition's done, guess the foundation work is starting.



More pictures...
     
     
  #4  
Old Posted Oct 12, 2011, 6:21 AM
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Man, La-Defense is on a tear.
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  #5  
Old Posted Oct 13, 2011, 2:29 AM
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London's Gherkin meets NYC's Hearst Tower
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  #6  
Old Posted Oct 13, 2011, 5:14 PM
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We should start a new thread in the "highrise construction" now that this thing is finally getting built!

C'est l'heure pour Paris d'avoir un autre gratte-ciel exquis!
     
     
  #7  
Old Posted Oct 13, 2011, 7:39 PM
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Thanks a lot for the support. We must admit that the forum rule is rather wise though, let's wait for some significant foundations to move it in the U/C section, it's just a matter of weeks. For now it looks like they still have a bit of rubble to clear away and they started some kind of excavation indeed.

Let me also quickly mention Air² in this thread. There's no dedicated thread on SSP but the project has been managed quietly anyway. I mean even the French forum had no news about it for long. Now we're expecting its implementation to start in the coming weeks BUT it'll take a long time before actual construction begins because first they have to demolish this:

http://www.pss-archi.eu/immeubles/FR-92026-48.html

That's 360-ft tall and closely surrounded which makes a fast demolition impossible. They talk about a "déconstruction" and say it'll take 16 months... slow
This is it (roughly 660-ft tall) stuck to D2 (560 ft):







Shape seen from above:



Design: Arquitectonica
Investor: Carlyle Group (based in NYC, they've been working with developer Bouygues Immobilier for this project)
Use: office
Surface area: 82,000 m² (roughly 883,000 sq ft)

Last edited by mousquet; Apr 6, 2013 at 8:15 AM.
     
     
  #8  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2011, 12:34 AM
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I was wondering what that other tower was in the D2 renders. That's some serious density going on right there.
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  #9  
Old Posted Dec 11, 2011, 4:16 PM
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A bunch of more machines just got on the site.









Thanks to morgandoug for these.

This is a picture of what was going on a week ago, they had begun some sort of foundation but it's no longer visible.



Thanks to Maza.
     
     
  #10  
Old Posted Jan 29, 2012, 11:00 AM
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4 days ago, foundation on progress...







Jexmen's uptade on French pss-archi.eu.

The overall foundation is expected to be done in late february, then a couple of cranes will be set up on the site. So far things have been happening about as mentioned there:
Quote:
Originally Posted by mousquet View Post
  • Demolition of the Veritas building shown above from june to september 2011.
  • Work on the foundations from october 2011 to february 2012.
  • Construction of the infrastructure from february to late 2012.
  • Construction of the superstructure from november 2012 to late 2013.
  • Completion is expected by september 2014.
It looks like this thread can be safely moved to Highrise Construction now. If you guys agree and although the French conventions would rather say 37 floors because they never take the ground floor in count, please change the title to:

PARIS - LA DEFENSE | D2 | 561 FT / 171 M | 38 floors

As far as we all forumers know, it's the most accurate.
     
     
  #11  
Old Posted Jan 29, 2012, 6:48 PM
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Good news !
But I guess that it's going to be invisible from the esplanade.
     
     
  #12  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2012, 9:35 PM
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^ Never mind the esplanade here. This is part of the plan to improve the north side of the ring boulevard, which is highly exciting.

A couple of days ago:


Closer.








This will bear the workers' sheds across the boulevard.

All pictures by morgan.

One more draft.




     
     
  #13  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2012, 2:15 AM
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From the pictures it's hard to tell where the footprint of the actual tower is, but this thing looks to be very close to if not already under construction. mousquet, if you can point out where in any of the above pictures are piles for the foundation of the tower, I'll move this to the Under Construction sub forum.
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  #14  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2012, 5:56 AM
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^ Sorry, I'm unable to do so. We can figure what should be the foundations of the fishnet on a couple of pictures but I can't see anything related to the actual structure either. You're right, there's no hurry anyway. The next update will be the proper one.
     
     
  #15  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2012, 8:59 AM
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In the first rendering at the top, the diamonds appear to be much larger than in some of the renderings further down. Is there a difference, or just perspective?
     
     
  #16  
Old Posted Feb 23, 2012, 5:54 AM
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@AJphx Right, the fishnet looks a little different from a render to another. I can't tell which version is the most accurate.

@colemonkee In fact, I've been confused since they talked about diaphragm walls on the French forum. Those things are clearly foundations but I don't know what for, probably the structure itself.
Diaphragm walls are part of what this red hydrofraise has been doing for 3 months:



I think that's what they were doing on this picture.



They also did some strips using the hydrofraise. In my own words, for the past 3 months they've dug holes all around that they had to plug to let their machines easily move on the site. Just to let you know about those diaphragm wall and strip things.

Now a couple of more pictures taken by Maza yesterday.





The hydrofraise is still on the site so I'm guessing the foundations are not totally done yet.
More sheds for workers to come.

     
     
  #17  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2012, 8:17 PM
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The hydrofraise is gone...




Guessing Milo's right, that thing there looks like the foot of a crane.


Although I know nothing of foundation technologies, I have a feeling that something's still missing in there. But their strips and diaphragm wall must be done.
     
     
  #18  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2012, 12:11 PM
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Sample of the facade:

pss-archi member JP
They're really in love with that kind of spandrel over here, that ends up being very annoying. You can see about the same on all the latest facades that somewhat disappointed me and many others around here. Hopefully that darker spandrel glass will be better than what we've seen lately.
Notice the glass frame to the left which is different, same light grey as the fishnet instead of black, must be a try. BTW doesn't that fishnet look like plastic? I expected something more metallic... Pssst

A crane would be coming this week. Yesterday:

morgan
They're still focusing on that spot stuck to the boulevard.
     
     
  #19  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2012, 6:06 PM
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La Défense seems to have no urban planning at all. Only improvised schemes on a small scale.
It's as if every new addition was hastily devised so as to compensate for the permanent shortage of modern commercial space.
The lack of grand gesture is the sign of a fragile imbalance between premature decrepitude and rejuvanation.
     
     
  #20  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2012, 8:34 PM
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^ You think it's that bad? Yet EPADESA has hired some planners and as we see, the treatment of the ring boulevard is changing a lot. I have a feeling there's actually some improvement in the district planning, I would just complain about materials used for this building, Carpe Diem, and First and T1 before them. All this looks kinda tacky, old-fashioned or whatever boring to me.
Regarding the premature decrepitude, I guess it's due to much of the 60s-70s architecture that's just crap. Not only there in la Défense. Certainly not even only in the country, in many cases, it didn't age well which explains the current renovations/demolitions around there.
     
     
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