The options for the future construction were presented at the Cannes real estate exhibition MIPIM-2008 by Patrick Devedian, President of the management company Defense Epad.
According to him, the Signal Tower, which can be translated as "sign", will be a building of "the highest emotional quality" and an example of resource-saving, "green" architecture. It will combine office space, housing, hotel rooms, shops, restaurants, and entertainment facilities. Its multifunctionality should become a guarantee of creating around and within it a new life - "emotional" - space for communication and work of Parisians.
Competition projects were presented by architects together with development companies.
Jean Nouvel, who participates in the competition with Medea / Layetana Desarollos Immobiliarios, has developed a project of a rectangular skyscraper 301 m high, with a series of huge niches at different levels, in which the gardens are supposed to be arranged.
Norman Foster's proposal (developer - Compagnie La Lucette) is a 297-meter cylinder with alternating transparent and matt sections of the facade, lined with ornamental lines.
Jacques Ferrier paired up with the Russian developer Hermitage, a subsidiary of the Stroymontazh corporation. His project involves the construction of a whole complex of two towers 300 m high, united by a common base; it is called Hermitage Plaza.
The Signal Tower, according to Daniel Libeskind and the Orco Property Group, will reach a height of “only” 255 meters. Its shape is predictably crystal-like. According to the architect, the project is designed to receive LEED platinum certification due to its high level of energy activity.
Jean Michel Wilmotte (Centuria / Bouygues Immobilier) grouped three prismatic volumes around a single core, reminiscent of "columns rising to the sky" - to a height of 284 m.
