Tour Eria | France
22 september 2022
Project: Tour Eria, Puteaux (La Défense) | France
Architect: 2Portzamparc, Paris | France
Fabricator: ACODI, Torvilliers | France
Installer: Eiffage, Vélizy-Villacoublay + Rinaldi Structal SA, Colmar | France
Façade System: Riveted/Screwed
Year of Construction: 2020
Product: ALUCOBOND® PLUS solid Pure White 10
Photos: Nicolas Borel
CLOSE TO THE EDGE
The canopy clad with ALUCOBOND® tray panels almost reaches the edge of the property and follows the bend in the road. Large skylights in the canopy allow daylight to penetrate into the ground floor. Built close to the edge, natural light is essential for this high office tower. Straight edged or curved? Both, of course. The Eria office tower in Paris would be totally out of keeping with Christian Portzamparc’s architecture had the architects opted for a simpler form. However, since the location, featuring a narrow plot of land with tricky lighting and traffic conditions, was anything but simple, neither is the high-rise, measuring almost 60-metres in height. As the architects wanted to make the most of this very narrow piece of land, they designed a semi-circular building and shifted it close to the edge of the plot. This resulted in 25,000 m² of floor space, distributed over 14 levels. The architects organised the fan-shaped layout to create one common heart connected to three petals. Separated by deep recesses, the three wings are ensured good natural light, have easily divisible floor plans, and circulation areas are kept to a minimum at the same time. The façade surface area is also increased, meaning more daylight and air is allowed into the interior of the building. Each building wing is rounded at the end and follows the fan-like, semi-circular line. However, on closer inspection, it becomes evident that these curved ends are actually a series of straight lines. The architects folded the glass façade into V-shaped oriel windows and in so doing increased the surface area of the frontage, the amount of natural light and the angles of incidence and reflection. As a result, light spreads widely and diffusely throughout the building. By mounting screw-on white bands onto the rounded floor slabs, the architects have emphasised their curves and the three-part tower features numerous sweeping curved lines which really highlight the angularity of the glass façade. An ALUCOBOND® clad canopy runs around the entire semi-circle and creates a visual separation between shops and cafés in the public space on ground-level and the private office accommodation on the floors above. At the same time, the canopy acts as a connecting element, linking shopping facilities and entrance with their surroundings; despite the constraints and inhospitable nature of urban space, passers-by and people walking through can enjoy a defined outdoor space where they are sheltered from the weather. Selecting straight edges or curves is, in this case, contingent on the specific construction task, the building plot and the resulting demands. The only feasible option here was to use both.