Unibail shall challenge the Eiffel tower in La Défense

Unibail will construct a new high-rise building in La Défense (Paris). The jury chose Thom Mayne (Morphosis), 2005 Pritzker prize winner, as the project’s architect.
Thom Mayne, completing his first project in France, conceived a truly innovative project and broke with the architecture of the business district.



A project that sees itself both as an " icon in Paris" (an opportunity to reclaim a difficult site—in particular the project includes a joining pavilion between the tower and CNIT) and a response to environmental concerns. The Phare tower will be surrounded by a double “skin” and will have a wind park on the roof that will maximize the energy efficiency of the building. The tower is almost as high as the Eiffel Tower – 300 m² with a total area of 130 000 m² (average “tour” at La Défense has only 30 000 m²).