Paris is building continental Europe's tallest office tower, commissioned by Franco-Dutch real estate company Unibail Rodamco. The skyscraper is set to dominate the French capital's world-famous skyline, competing with the slightly taller 19th century Eiffel Tower.

The nearly 300 metre tall 'Tour Phare' (Lighthouse Tower) will count 69 floors and will be erected in the La Défense business quarter west of Paris. Unibail Rodamco's Director of Development, Olivier Bossard, told us that "It will be a spectacular tower which will in no way resemble traditional skyscrapers".

Preparations for the building work will commence this year, with completion envisaged by 2016. Mr Bossard said, "It will be almost as tall as the Eiffel Tower and will be 50 percent taller than the average edifice in La Défence."

The US architect who designed the building, Thom Mayne, said, "What I find fascinating about my tower is that you can interpret it any way you like. You can look at it as a work of art, but also as a dominating building. In any case, it's a tower with a great presence."

Dressed in metal
It is the shape that is most eye-catching. The north face of the building is the only perpendicular one. "From any other direction, and at several heights, the tower will appear to have a different shape," according to Unibail Rodamco's Olivier Bossard.

"The outer face is glass, but outside that is perforated steel sheeting, draped over the tower like a dress, and filtering the sunlight entering the windows. The metal screening will also reflect light in several ways, depending on the position of the sun. At times it will look like sparkling silver, at others it will be dull grey."

Pedestals
The building has no ground floor; it will be resting on three huge pedestals. The site in La Défence was too cramped to build on. "I had to create space in a place where there was none," architect Tom Mayne explained. Instead, he decided to lift the tower up, so in future, pedestrians will be able to saunter below the Tour Phare, between the three immense pillars. And somehow, that is an echo of a walk between the Eiffel Tower's four legs.

(rk)