Posted on 09/24/2008 3:55:04 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Plans showing a pyramid-like tower rising 180 metres above Paris - the first skyscraper to be built inside the French capital in 30 years - have been leaked to the press ahead of Thursday's official unveiling.
The 50-storey building has already been dubbed the "Delanoë tower" after Paris' Socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, who has battled to bring towers to the low-rise city.
Conceived by the Swiss agency Herzog & de Meuron - who designed the Tate Modern and the "Bird's Nest" stadium for the Beijing Olympics - the edifice is described as "a sort of Kheops' pyramid squashed and morphed by computer tools, with a very narrow-width base and very stretched out lengthwise."
The privately-financed building is expected to contain offices looking outward and a luxury hotel looking towards the city centre. There are also plans for luxury boutiques, a panoramic restaurant, a swimming pool, hanging gardens and a Babel-like "museum of languages of the world".
Scheduled for completion by 2012, it will overlook Paris from its southwestern extremity at the porte de Versailles, already home to a vast exhibition centre. It is the first of six gratte-ciels (high-rise) projects to be launched by Mr Delanoë. These are all in "exceptional" designated zones on the outer limits of the city.
In July, the mayor won backing from Paris' city council to make exceptions to a 30-year-old ban on high-rise buildings, currently limited to 37 metres.
The height restriction was introduced in 1977 after Parisians feared a repeat of the ugly 210-metre Montparnasse tower south of the River Seine.
The running joke in France, where Belgians are often mocked, is: "What do you call a Belgian who blows up the Tour Montparnasse? A national hero."
The French Green Party voted against skyscrapers on grounds of energy efficiency.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Christmas tree!
Holy ugly POS
What is with modern architecture?
The local islamderthals will like it. Pyramid shapes burn nicely.
This just may have the London Egg whipped.
It even looks ‘French’... -ridiculous.
Stunning.
As soon as I saw modern architecture and heard socialist mayor, I figured it would be ugly. But it’s even uglier than I expected.
Looks like that North Korean monstrosity.
I don’t see why the French cannot copy our art deco skyscapers
Oh, that looks sturdy and well able to stand up to attack by jetliner (not).
Now that's funny.
I got to visit Paris one time back in the nineties for just a couple days. I took the train from London (Eurostar) through the Chunnel which was an experience in itself, and was prepared to be disappointed by Paris. It couldn't possibly live up to the hype, I thought.
Wrong. It's an absolutely, stunningly beautiful city and, despite their reputation, the Parisians are no less friendly than your average New Yorker. Well, that's not saying much I suppose. Nonetheless, the Frenchies are free to do as they wish, but Paris is one place where I wouldn't complain about a ban on skyscrapers.
By the way, Mrs. BfloGuy would have spent the rest of her life in Paris (the Louvre, Montmartre, etc.,) but I couldn't wait to get on Eurostar again. What a cool train.
We are going to have to start rethinking our approach to transportation here, if we are not already too broke to do something about it.
That’s not a skyscraper. That’s a tortilla chip.
lol...
But this thing, based on the provided pic, is butt ugly in any century.
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