Adding another skyscraper to the high-rise buildings of La Defense, Europe's largest business district, is a responsible task, which in the case of the new Valode & Pistre project was complicated by the name of the customer: Saint-Gobain is not only a major manufacturer of innovative building materials and technologies, but also one of the the oldest companies in France, so its new building must correspond to this status.
Architects believe that a skyscraper is the most “engaging” type of building, a lot is expected from it, so it should always evoke emotions. They solved this process in a threefold way. First, a highly efficient facade, depending on the lighting and angle of view, looks either mirrored or transparent, which in itself creates an intrigue.
In addition, a sculptural composition was chosen from three prisms - rhombohedrons, which, due to their “unstable” shape, give the tower a dynamic that is often absent in high-rise buildings. This composition is perceived by the viewer - which is typical for a person - as anthropomorphic, with head and body: this is important in the case of a building that reaches 178 m (38 floors) in height and is not commensurate with a pedestrian.
Given the lack of natural environment in the city, and especially in Défense with its windswept esplanade, the architects have also drawn interested eyes to the tower thanks to the terraced gardens on the office floors and the large conservatory at its top.
These three points of the project are supported by the "welcoming" appearance of the building's basement, where public areas with a showroom open onto the esplanade, as if inviting to go inside.
In the main volume, the office floors received the same plan in the form of an elongated rectangle. Sunlight illuminates them almost completely: for this purpose, the staircase, elevator and service unit are slightly shifted from the center, so 90% of the 2,200 workplaces are located at a distance of 7 meters or less from the facade.
For the rest of the employees, there are open terraces protected from the wind - there are thirteen in total. Each - with an area of 44 m2, among the plantings - hawthorn, rosehip, pomegranate, olive, roses and geraniums.
At the top of the tower there are four more terraces: they are enclosed in a greenhouse with a Mediterranean climate. There are large trees: narrow-leaved oak, pomegranate, strawberry tree, as well as roses, acanthus, wormwood, and yarrow. For large and medium-sized trees, the soil layer was 1 m, for the rest of the plants - 0.6 m. The gardens were managed by the Raphia landscape bureau.
One of the restaurants, meeting rooms, representative premises are located in the upper prism with a greenhouse.
Low energy consumption is ensured by radiant panel ceilings (heating / cooling), displacement ventilation at a very low speed and façade with maximum insulation. Rainwater collection is provided for irrigation of landscaping, which naturally helps to cool the greenhouse at the top of the tower.
