A new landmark tower will be marking in the next few years the Parisian skyline. Designed by Jean Nouvel, the Tour Signal is a building that consists of 71-storey and will located in the grerater region of Paris, inside the prestigious business district of la Défense.

The Architect has chosen to locate its project at the Porte Ouest to open up the La Défense neighbourhood to Puteaux.

Atelier Jean Nouvel won the competition for this project after being selected from a shortlist of five architects originally chosen out of 18 competitors.

All the illustrations are courtesy and  copyright of Ateliers Jean Nouvel

The projects fits in a larger plan to regenerate the district of la Défense, the plan is organized and managed by the EPAD (The Public Establishment for Installation of La Défense), formed by local authorities, government and neighbors and focused on developing the district, reinforcing its role as a hub for international business, and Europe’s leading business district.

 

The winning team chose the West Gate as the location for its project in order to open the La Défense district to the municipality of Puteaux.


The developper’s ambition is to create a stronger polarity at the heart of the Ile-de-France and develop a major attraction while relating the project to its natural and built environment and, lastly, embodying the various elements which strengthen the feeling that the project belongs in the district.

Going beyond a formal statement, the project according to Jean Nouvel expresses a new typology of tower that responds to a multipurpose program. It includes shops, offices, apartments, a hotel as well as cultural facilities. Adding all these functionalities will help the district become more alive and diversified. A business district need not be just composed of office space. The project wants to bring the community that is living and working there to life.

The tower looks like four blocks built on top of each other.  The long and bold rectangular mass is punctuated, throughout its length by big openings that display atriums and gardens that bring natural light inside the project and help it to connect with its surroundings. Restaurants, residences, offices, as well as the hotel are organized around these atriums. These atriums bring the tower to life, with the different activities, happening in the building being seen for the outside, and projecting its dynamic nature. Innovative lights and projections at night will the dynamics alive.

Defined by their colors of the their illuminated skin, each of the atrium displays the activities of a separate function within this mixed use edifice. While the blue atrium seems allocated to the general entrance and commercial block, the offices are built around the white, the hotel around the red, and finally the apartments around the green atrium.

The project promises great technological and environmental innovations. It abides to the competition requirements to minimize the impact on the environment and downsize energy consumption.

Tour Signal will undeniably impact Paris and become one of its stronger landmarks. We look forward to seeing how its design will evolve until completion.