Hermitage Plaza

Hermitage Plaza is the project made of a podium and 6 buildings, of which two towers, proposed by Hermitage Group for Paris-La Défense business district.

Concept

Hermitage Plaza is an innovative mixed-use project at the entrance of Europe’s biggest central business district - La Defense in Paris, and is situated across the Seine River from the residential district of Neuilly-Paris, which will bring together programs of luxury serviced apartments, a 5-Star palace hotel, class-A offices, high-end retail, and the public and entertainment space. Placed along Paris’ unrivalled historical axis, linking the Louvre Palace, and its crystal pyramid, to the grand Arches of La Triomphe and La Defense, Hermitage Plaza would have been visible from every corner of the capital.

The shape of the Hermitage Plaza is divided into two distinct volumes. The genesis of this design is the will to create optimum permeability of the site at ground level whilst maximizing the views from each of the two towers, as well as preserving views from the neighboring buildings. The design incorporates a number of distinguishing features such as:

• The principal load-bearing columns are up to 8 meters apart, as opposed to the more conventional 6 meters found in contemporary tower structures.
• An entirely automated pantograph system will be used to open the windows, allowing direct natural air circulation in the rooms, which is a real innovation for skyscrapers.
• The technical rooms, usually placed on the roof, have been inserted in strategic floors (so that the pool’s underlying structure would not diminish ceiling heights on any inhabitable floors) in order to provide breath-taking terraces and views to the top-floor luxury penthouses.
• The triple-glazed facade grid framework is 1.75m wide, thus replacing commonly used 1.35m.

The project inscribes itself within the Paris-La Defense renewal plan, initiated and driven by the EPADESA (local planning authorities).

History of the project

The project is managed by Emin Iskenderov, a Russian property developer. The project was revealed by Norman Foster, on 11 March 2009 at the MIPIM (real estate show for professionals) which took place in Cannes, France. Hermitage Plaza 320 m (1,050 ft) high with 86 and 85 floors, after completion in 2019, will become the tallest building in the European Union. Hermitage Group had originally proposed a different design, by Jacques Ferrier, which was running for the Tour Signal contest. The Tour Signal contest was won by Jean Nouvel's project but Hermitage Group tried to have its towers built anyway. This was possible because Tour Signal's location was free and Ferrier's project was not planned to be at the same location as Nouvel's from the beginning. However Hermitage Group and Ferrier were soon at odds over undisclosed points and Ferrier left the project; Hermitage then announced it would order a new design from Norman Foster, which became the currently known one.

It is scheduled to start by 2013 and to be completed by 2019. This is close but Hermitage SAS claims to have secured the financing of the project.^[3][4]

References

External links

• Official site (English)