Foster and Partners has designed what will be the tallest skyscrapers in France to sit on the plot at La Defense in Paris owned by property company Hermitage.
The Hermitage Towers, or Tours Hermitage if you’re French, are located on a site overlooking the River Seine. The project has a chequered history – it stems originally from Hermitage’s competition entry for the Tour Signal which was designed by Jacques Ferrier.
Although they didn’t win that and were pipped at the post by Jean Nouvel, the developer was determined to build a tower of their own in Paris so continued their relationship with Ferrier and ported the design over into their own individual scheme until creative differences saw him leave the project and be replaced by Foster and Partners.
Foster and Partners had previously worked on a rival design for Tour Signal for another developer but these plans are a radical departure from the copper lattice-work they dreamed up for that competition.
The Hermitage Towers scheme now features two 92 storey, 323 metre tall towers of an identical in look with a white diagrid of structural crossbracing typical of the architect, crisscrossing up the skyscrapers over floor-to-ceiling glass curtain walls.
What is notable about the towers is their sculptural shape.They are widest in the middle being almost square in shape, and taper to the top and bottom along diagonal lines into what are effectively narrow lozenge shaped floors.
The main uses of both towers will be residential with almost three quarters of their floor space taken up by apartments with spas filling the floors between what lies beneath. These will have infinity pools for residents to enjoy, plus large LCD screens so the men can drool over Melissa Theuriau as pictured in the promotional images.
Tower One will have 19 floors of hotel space and a two storey restaurant underneath the residential area but above the quadruple height reception, whilst Tower Two 18 levels of office space sandwiched between the reception and residential areas.
Taking advantage of the river-side location that the scheme sits on, a large public space between the towers and the Seine has been masterplanned that should turn this part of the banks into a new urban park.
Although the height is a record-breaking figure for France, contrary to press reports elsewhere these will not be the tallest towers in Europe unless Russia has vacated the continent and moved elsewhere. The tallest of the Federation Towers in Moscow, which is due to be finished in 2009, will be 360.4 metres to roof and 506 metres to the tip of its pinnacle.
