La Défense viewed across the Bois de Boulogne.

La Défense is a major business district for the city of Paris (French:"Ville de Paris") and the largest purpose-built business district in Europe,^[1] bordering Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of the city itself. It is centered in an ovular 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 Downtown Paris and crosses the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe.

Around its 100 m-high Grande Arche and esplanade ("le Parvis"), this district holds many of the Paris urban area's tallest high-rises: with its 77.5 acres, its 72 glass-and-steel slick buildings including 14 high-rises above 150 m, its 150 000 daily workers and 3.5 million square meters of office space. La Défense is Europe's largest district specifically built for business.

History

La Défense as seen from central Paris.

La Défense is named for 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) was created by the state to manage and bring life to the quarter. La Défense began designing itself: the first 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 100 meters. 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 progress 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.

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 187 metres 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 of course the Eiffel Tower).

A new era: "La Défense 2006-2015"

La Défense on the Northern circular boulevard.

New high-rises of 185m are currently under construction and planned for a 2007 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", in which he launched high profile international competitions and/or construction greenlight of several key 300- to 320-m 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
• 3,500,000 square meters 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
• 210,000 square meters of shops (including the 120,000 square meters Quatre Temps Shopping Mall, the largest in Continental Europe)
• 2,600 hotel rooms
• 310,000 square meters of flagstone and sidewalk
• 110,000 square meters of greenery
• 60 modern art sculptures and monuments

La Défense tallest towers

La Défense aligned with the Palais de Chaillot.

Yaacov Agam's fountain.

completed highrise buildings above 90m (300ft)

upcoming buildings

Canceled projects

1. Tour Sans Fins (1989): 425 m

References

See also

• List of tallest structures in Paris
• List of CBDs in the world

External links

at Sunset

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

La Défense

• Satellite image from Google Maps
• (French) Site officiel de l'EPAD (Établissement Public pour l'Aménagement de la Défense)
• (French) Les bâtiments de la Défense
• (English) Structurae: Structural engineering and architecture guide to Paris-La Défense

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