La Défense
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Image:La-Defense-skyline.jpg
La Défense viewed across the Bois de Boulogne.
La Défense is a major business district for the city of Paris (French:"Ville de 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 100 m-high Grande Arche and esplanade ("le Parvis"), the 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 one of Europe's largest business districts.
History
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 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 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"
New high-rises of 185m are currently under construction and planned for a 2008 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
La Défense tallest towers
Completed highrise buildings above 90m (300ft) (1967-2005)
Upcoming buildings (2008-2015)
Canceled projects
References
See alsoExternal linksImage:Photo 197.jpg
at sunset
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