La Défense, France
2003
Tour Initiale
(ex Nobel)
The restoration of the Tour Nobel, the first tower built in La Défense in 1966 and designed by architects Jean de Mailly and Jacques Depussé with builder Jean Prouvé, highlights the problem of “modern” architecture that has become “historic”.
Client
Program
Area
Planning
Client
Tertial / Sari
Program
Heritage restructuring of a 109 m tower (30 floors): offices, conference rooms, restaurants, fitness center, lounge club.
Area
39 000 m²
Planning
Delivery
2003
Exemplary in its collaboration between architects and engineer, exemplary in the elegance of its design, and exemplary in its technical innovations: its restoration was both a tribute to these predecessors and the occasion for research into techniques and their adaptation for the purpose of restoring the building without altering it.
The tower’s façades, designed by Jean Prouvé, are a true laboratory of technical innovations that were subsequently reused in La Défense and around the world. The first shadow-boxes under compressed air have been put in place and faithfully reconstructed as part of the restoration process. Similarly, the principle of combined neoprene and aluminium profiles, which were also a major technical advance, have been preserved and the original networks recreated for the restoration.
In architectural terms, besides the quality of the tower’s proportions, the intelligence of the interior geometry (below-ceiling height, depth of the storeys, etc.) has allowed adaptation to current international standards, thus avoiding demolition. Its integration into the contemporary world has been achieved by a reformulation of the interior spaces, based solely on light intake. This new, well-lit environment is enabling new types of use without stylistic clashes with the original architects’ choices: luminous ceilings, opalescent walls, replacement of opaque panels with panels of coloured lights.
In the evening, when lines of light appear at the edge of each ceiling, and the length of the central nucleus is a heart of light, the tower displays its renewal and its unique and historic presence, in concert with the other towers of La Défense.
The tower’s façades, designed by Jean Prouvé, are a true laboratory of technical innovations that were subsequently reused in La Défense and around the world. The first shadow-boxes under compressed air have been put in place and faithfully reconstructed as part of the restoration process. Similarly, the principle of combined neoprene and aluminium profiles, which were also a major technical advance, have been preserved and the original networks recreated for the restoration.
In architectural terms, besides the quality of the tower’s proportions, the intelligence of the interior geometry (below-ceiling height, depth of the storeys, etc.) has allowed adaptation to current international standards, thus avoiding demolition. Its integration into the contemporary world has been achieved by a reformulation of the interior spaces, based solely on light intake. This new, well-lit environment is enabling new types of use without stylistic clashes with the original architects’ choices: luminous ceilings, opalescent walls, replacement of opaque panels with panels of coloured lights.
In the evening, when lines of light appear at the edge of each ceiling, and the length of the central nucleus is a heart of light, the tower displays its renewal and its unique and historic presence, in concert with the other towers of La Défense.
Paris Expo Hall 5