Construction of Herzog & de Meuron’s triangular glass tower is set to begin in Paris, 15 years after the Swiss firm began work on the design, ArchDaily reports.
The €670m Tour Triangle will be sited in the 15th arrondissement in the southwest of the city and will have 91,400 sq m of floor space distributed over 42 storeys. Its height will be 180m, making it the third-tallest building in the French capital, behind the Tour Montparnasse and the Eiffel Tower.
The project has been delayed by a lengthy planning process and a number of legal challenges.
The building will contain offices, a conference centre, shops and restaurants, and a hotel. Herzog & de Meuron said the shape, which has variously been compared to a chunk of Toblerone chocolate and a wedge of brie, is intended to maximise views for those inside while reducing the shadow cast on neighbouring buildings.
It is being developed by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) with financial backing from the investment arm of French insurance company AXA.
URW said the project incorporated “the highest environmental construction standards” as well as “best in class conventional energy consumption and a carbon emissions trajectory in line with the Paris climate agreement objectives”. Its sustainable credentials will be bolstered by installing photovoltaic panels over the entire south-facing façade.
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron issued a statement after the AXA funding deal was agreed earlier this month, saying: “We designed Triangle for Paris and Parisians. What we want to achieve most with this building is that it should be open to everyone and include the entire community.”
Isabelle Scemama, global head of AXA IM Alts, said: “The Triangle Tower project is a flagship project for the city of Paris and its region. It has been designed as a particularly innovative location and will benefit from the best environmental certifications, notably in terms of energy efficiency and carbon footprint. We are proud to be associated today with this unique and emblematic project alongside URW.”
Not everyone agrees, however. Although Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, is backing the scheme, it is opposed by the Green Party and also Philippe Goujon, the mayor of the 15th arrondissement.
The project is expected to break ground before the end of the year and complete in 2026.
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