Photos

This is another photo from La Défense, Paris. The building to the left is Tour Kupka or Tour Facto It was built in 1992 and is designed by architects Michel Andrault and Pierre Parat. It is the headquarters of Société Factofrance, a factoring company founded in 1966 and wholly owned by GE (General Electric Group) since October 2001.

Then like in my previous post the twins of Tours Société Générale (Tour Alicante and Tour Chassagne). The twin towers were built in 1995 and are the headquarters of France’s largest banking group. The buildings are identical and were designed by architects, Michel Andrault, Pierre Parat and Nicolas Ayoub. The height of both towers is 167 and the number of floors is 37. In its interior the two towers differ though since one is decorated with red Alicante marble and the other with white Chassange stone from which the towers got their names.

You could also see the twin towers’ newly born little brother, the Tour Granite, an office skyscraper ordered also by the Société Générale. The building is newly constructed (2008). The architect is Christian de Portzamparc. It has 40 floors and a height of 183 meters. Like the twin towers the Tour Alicante and the Tour Chassagne it has an inclined roof.

Finally to the right you see the Tour Pacific designed by the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. It was build between 1988-1992 and it 25 has the height is 90 meters. It is also called the Japanese Tower an seeks to marry Japanese Culture with European Culture. The curtain wall facade represents a sliding door of wood and paper (Shoji) while the curved facade represents European masonry-structured architecture in Europe and a pedestrian bridge represents Taiko Bashi (a traditional Japanese arch bridge). The building houses both offices and spaces for Japanese tradition and culture.