Los Angeles-based architecture firm Morphosis, led by 2005 Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne, has sent us images of its award-winning competition tower in Paris' La Défense business district.
On Friday, November 24, the design, called Phare, was announced as the winner of the architectural competition. The 68-story, 300-meter-high tower will be slightly shorter than the 320-meter Eiffel Tower when it is completed in 2012.
Morphosis describes the building as a "hybrid tower" rather than an office building, as it contains public spaces such as a 60-metre-high atrium, gardens, cafes, shops, an observation deck and a sky restaurant. The lower levels of the building provide pedestrian access to the underground transportation hub and surrounding area.
The building incorporates "sustainable" technologies, such as a wind farm on top and a curved façade designed to minimize solar overheating.
"There is," says Mayne, "a fluidity, sensuality and flexibility as it rises." As you move around the tower, it appears to be constantly changing, looking very different from different points of view: it is not a singular image, but a dynamic structure that responds to its location, environment and operational requirements."
It will be the first skyscraper of architectural importance in Paris since the 110-meter-high La Grande Arche, designed by Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen, was completed in 1990.
