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La Défense

La Défense is a major business district for the city of Paris, bordering Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of the city itself. It is centered in an oval freeway loop straddling the Hauts-de-Seine département municipalities of Nanterre, Courbevoie and Puteaux. The district is at the westernmost extremity of Paris' 10-km long Historical Axis, which starts at the Louvre in Central Paris and continues along the Champs-Élysées, well beyond the Arc de Triomphe before culminating at La Défense.

Around its -high Grande Arche and esplanade ("le Parvis"), the district holds many of the Paris urban area's tallest high-rises. With its , its 72 glass-and-steel slick buildings including 14 high-rises above , its 150,000 daily workers and 3.5 million square metres (37.7 million sq ft) of office space, La Défense is Europe's largest business district.

History

La Défense is named after the statue, La Défense de Paris, which was built in 1883 to commemorate the soldiers who had defended Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. The name of the area sometimes causes confusion with visitors, who occasionally assume it is some kind of military zone or establishment.

In September 1958, The Public Establishment for Installation of La Défense (EPAD)tis st buildings (of which the Esso Tower was the very first) were built and began to slowly replace the city's factories, shanties, and even a few farms. The Center of New Industries and Technologies (CNIT) was built and first used in 1958. These "first generation" skyscrapers were all very similar in appearance, limited to a height of . In 1966, the Nobel Tower was the first office building built in the area.

In the early 1970s, in response to great demand, a second generation of buildings began to appear. Unfortunately, the economic crisis in 1973 nearly halted all construction in the area. A third generation of towers began to appear in the early 1980s. The biggest commercial center in Europe (at the time), the Quatre Temps, was created in 1981. In 1982, the EPAD launched the Tête Défense competition to find a monument to complete the Axe historique, which eventually led to the construction of Grande Arche at the west end of the quarter. During the same period, hotels were constructed, the CNIT was restructured, and in 1992 Line 1 of the Paris Métro was extended to La Défense, which made the area readily accessible to even more of the city.

On Bastille Day 1990, French electronic composer Jean Michel Jarre staged an ambitious concert at the site, using the Grande Arche and three of the area's towers as projection screens, and building a pyramidal stage above the road. The free concert, titled simply Paris la Defense attracted two million spectators, stretching all the way back to the Arc de Triomphe. This beat Jarre's own previous world record for the largest attendance for a musical concert.

After a stagnation in new development in the mid-1990s La Défense is once again expanding and is now the largest purpose-built business district in Europe.

Important corporations headquartered at La Défense include Cegetel, Société Générale, Total, Aventis, and Arcelor. The tallest skyscraper belongs to Total, constructed in 1985. It is high, has 48 floors, and is the second highest inhabited building in the Paris area (the first being the Tour Montparnasse; the tallest building in Paris is the Eiffel Tower).

A new era: "La Défense 2006-2015"

New high-rises of are currently under construction and planned for a 2008 opening : Tour Granite and Tour T1. In December 2005, Bernard Bled, CEO & Chairman of EPAD (La Defense Management & Development Office) announced an ambitious 9-year development plan called "La Defense 2006-2015"This important modernisation plan has to give a new dimension to the district and focuses on 4 main axes: regenerate outdated skyscrapers, allow new buildings, improve the balance between offices and housings and make the transport of local employees from their house to La Défense easier. There are 3 aims: building 150 000 square metres (1 600 000 sq ft) of offices within demolition/rebuilding projects, building 300 000 square metres (3 200 000 sq ft) of offices within new projects and building 100 000 square metres (1 100 000 sq ft) of housing. The government confirmed in July 2006 this plan which has to be carried out around 2015. It is justified by the strong estate pressure, which plays in favour of building new skyscrapers near to Paris. Those constructions have also the advantage to be more economical than little buildings. But it will have to overcome some difficulties: French economy faces a short-term slowdown; the government tries to balance tertiary sector employment in the whole region again, because La Défense today concentrates a major part of those jobs; and traffic is already saturated in the district, while it would need huge investments to extend transport infrastructures. It launched high profile international competitions and/or construction greenlight of several key tall sustainable development-style skyscrapers such as Tour Signal, Tour Phare and Tour Generali. During said December 2005 Press Conference, EPAD released to the public an elaborate 3D animation film titled "La Défense 2015".

Area specifications

Divided into 12 sectors
400 acres (160 Ha)
of offices
1,500 businesses (of which 14 from the national top 20 and 15 from the global top 50)
150,000 employees
20,000 residents
of shops (including the Quatre Temps Shopping Mall, the largest in Continental Europe)
2,600 hotel rooms
of flagstone and sidewalk
of greenery
60 modern art sculptures and monuments

La Défense tallest towers

Completed highrise buildings above 90 m (300 ft) (1967-2005)


Rank	Name	Built	Use	Height		Levels	Municipality
Rank	Name	Built	Use	metres	feet	Levels	Municipality
1	Tour Total	1985	office	187	614	48	Courbevoie
2	Tour T1	2008	office	185	610	37	Courbevoie
3	Tour Areva	1974	office	184	607	44	Courbevoie
4	Tour Granite	2008	office	183	603	37	Courbevoie
5	Tour Gan	1974	office	179	587	44	Courbevoie
6	Tour Alicante (Société Générale)	1995	office	167	548	37	Nanterre
6	Tour Chassagne (Société Générale)	1995	office	167	548	37	Nanterre
8	Tour EDF	2001	office	165	541	41	Puteaux
9	Cœur Défense	2001	office	161	528	40	Courbevoie
10	Tour Assur (AXA)	1974	office	159	522	39	Courbevoie
11	Tour Adria (Technip)	2002	office	155	509	40	Courbevoie
11	Tour Égée (Ernst&Young)	1999	office	155	509	40	Courbevoie
13	Tour Ariane	1975	office	152	499	36	Puteaux
14	Tour CBX	2005	office	142	466	36	Courbevoie
15	Tour Défense 2000	1974	residential	136	446	46	Puteaux
16	Tour Europlaza	1995	office	135	443	31	Courbevoie
17	Tour Descartes (IBM)	1988	office	130	427	40	Courbevoie
18	Tour Les Poissons	1970	mixed	128	420	42	Courbevoie
19	Tour France	1973	residential	126	413	40	Puteaux
20	Tour Franklin	1972	office	120	394	33	Puteaux
21	Tour Sequoia (Bull, Cegetel, SFR)	1990	office	119	390	33	Puteaux
21	Tour Winterthur	1973	office	119	390	33	Puteaux
23	Tour Michelet (Total)	1985	office	117	384	34	Puteaux
23	Tour CB16	2003	office	117	384	32	Courbevoie
25	Tour Neptune	1972	office	113	371	28	Courbevoie
25	Préfecture des Hauts-de-Seine	1974	office	113	371	25	Nanterre
27	Grande Arche	1989	monument, office	110	361	37	Puteaux
	Tour Manhattan	1975	office	110	361	32	Courbevoie
	Tour Aurore	1970	office	110	361	29	Courbevoie
30	Tour Eve	1975	mixed	109	358	30	Puteaux
30	Tour Initiale	1967	office	109	358	30	Puteaux
32	Tour Nuage 1, Tours Aillaud	1976	residential	105	344	39	Nanterre
32	Tour Nuage 2, Tours Aillaud	1976	residential	105	344	39	Nanterre
34	Tour Gambetta	1975	residential	104	341	37	Courbevoie
35	Tour Cèdre	1998	office	103	338	26	Courbevoie
36	Tour Opus12	1973	office	100	328	27	Puteaux
36	Tour Athéna	1984	office	100	328	25	Puteaux
38	Tour Europe	1969	office	99	325	28	Courbevoie
38	Tour AIG	1967	office	99	325	27	Courbevoie
40	Tour Prisma (Tour Kvaerner)	1998	office	97	318	25	Courbevoie
41	Tour Atlantique	1970	office	95	312	27	Puteaux
41	Tour Pascal	1983	office	95	312	27	Puteaux
43	Tour Pacific	1992	office	90	295	25	Puteaux

Upcoming highrise buildings (2008-2015)


Name	Use	Height		Levels	Municipality	Status (2008)	Year of Forecast Completion
Name	Use	meters	feet	Levels	Municipality	Status (2008)	Year of Forecast Completion
Tour Generali	office	318	1,043	56	Courbevoie	approved	2012
Hermitage Towers	mix	309	1,014	60	Courbevoie or Puteaux	proposed	TBD
Tour Signal	office	301	988	71	Puteaux	approved	2012
Tour Phare	office	300	984	-	Puteaux	approved	2012
Tour CB21 (GAN)	office	275	902	49	Courbevoie	approved	TBD
Tour Assur (AXA)	office	240	787	61	Courbevoie	under reconstruction	2010
Tour Air²	office	220	720	43	Courbevoie	approved	TBA
Tour Majunga	office	180	591	-	Puteaux	approved	TBA
Tour D2	office	175	574	-	Courbevoie	approved	TBA
Tour Carpe Diem	office	160	525	-	Courbevoie	proposed	TBA
Tour AVA	office	140	459	-	Courbevoie	approved	TBA
Hôtel Méridien La Défense	hotel	87	285	-	Courbevoie	approved	TBA