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 convert|100|m|ft|adj=on-high Grande Arche and esplanade ("le Parvis"), the district holds many of the Paris urban area's tallest high-rises. With its convert|77.5|acre|ha, its 72 glass-and-steel slick buildings including 14 high-rises above convert|150|m|ft|, 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 convert|100|m|ft. 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 convert|187|m|ft 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 convert|185|m|ft|abbr=on are currently under construction and planned for a 2008 opening : Tour Granite and Tour T1. In December 2005, [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Bled Bernard Bled] , CEO & Chairman of [http://www.ladefense.fr/ EPAD] (La Defense Management & Development Office) announced an ambitious 9-year development plan called [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projet_La_D%C3%A9fense_2015 "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 convert|300|to|320|m|ft|adj=on 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 [http://www.ladefense.fr/goodies_videos_detail_16.php 3D animation film] titled "La Défense 2015".

Area specifications

*Divided into 12 sectors
*400 acres (160 Ha)
*convert|3500000|m2|sqft 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
*convert|210000|m2|sqft of shops (including the convert|120000|m2|sqft "Quatre Temps" Shopping Mall, the largest in Continental Europe)
*2,600 hotel rooms
*convert|310000|m2|sqft of flagstone and sidewalk
*convert|110000|m2|sqft of greenery
*60 modern art sculptures and monuments

La Défense tallest towers

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

Upcoming highrise buildings (2008-2015)

Canceled projects

# Tour Sans Fin (1989): convert|425|m|ft|abbr=on

References

See also

*List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region
*Central business district

External links

* [http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=48.89085,2.241468&spn=0.015124,0.039911&t=h&om=1 Satellite image from Google Maps]
* [http://www.ladefense.fr Site officiel de l'EPAD (Établissement Public pour l'Aménagement de la Défense)]
* [http://eras.free.fr/html/ld.html Les bâtiments de la Défense]
* [http://en.structurae.de/geo/geoid/index.cfm?id=90 Structurae: Structural engineering and architecture guide to Paris-La Défense]