L’Arena will be the biggest, most modern and most modular arena in Europe. L’Arena is both an auditorium and a rugby stadium.

The architectural project is characterized by a concrete shell covered with metal and glass flakes that lets natural light enter the venue and projects a colored light outside the venue on the evening, thus announcing the name of the show. The Arena will be provided with advanced techniques work on acoustics and sound insulation.

Through its architectural design L’Arena is a truly exceptional object. Its aim is to be seen as another of La Défense’s monuments. The site is spectacular, the architecture must follow suit. Following an international bid in which 27 teams of architects from all over the world competed, Christian de Portzamparc was chosen to design L’Arena.

The design enables the structure to be recognised at first glance, as though it were a unique signature. It is a building that reflects its content – a venue that generates communication, image and dialogue.

L’Arena is to be delivered in 2016.

Highly original with its wedged shape and twenty loggias looking out over the city, the Majunga Tower is the second highest skyscraper in the business district of La Défense, after the First Tower.

Designed by the architect Jean-Paul Viguier and built on behalf of Unibail-Rodamco, it marks the return of Eiffage to La Défense, where the Group previously built the Ariane and Défense Plazza towers.

It took forty months of building work and 600 people at the peak of construction activity from all branches of the Group (Eiffage Construction with its “Études et Structures et Méthodes plus” design offices, Eiffage Energy for the electrical works, façade specialist Goyer, and Eiffage Public Works for part of the works at the base of the tower), to complete this building, which has 47 floors and weighs 135,000 tons.

It represented a technical challenge given the very narrow plot dimensions (3,500 m2)! Building on a plot the size of a postage stamp with no storage area meant that logistics and traffic management were run with almost military precision, with around 50 truck deliveries a day.

Following special foundation work, where 450 jet grouting columns were injected under the building’s maximum weight points, construction of a three metre thick slab, using 6,000 m3 of concrete, was the first key step before construction of the seven levels of foundations.Special high performance concrete was used throughout. The formwork for the central core required 400 tons of materials and 120 semi trailer trucks. In the design phase, aligning structure movement with tolerance requirements of façade specialist Goyer (a subsidiary of Eiffage Métal), which installed the 35,000 m2 of facades, was also a challenge.

From an energy perspective, with primary energy consumption of less than 80kWh/m2/year, the Majunga Tower is four to five times more energy efficient than towers built in the nineties. Equipped with 250 m² of solar panels, the Majunga Tower is the first new building in France to receive BBC certification in its design phase and the first office tower in continental Europe to obtain BREEAM Certification at Excellent level. 

Uniting buildings by Christian de Portzamparc and Jean Nouvel, The Philharmonie de Paris is an exceptional ensemble of architecture.

The Philharmonie de Paris brings together two prestigious architects: Christian de Portzamparc for the Cité de la musique, now called Philharmonie 2, and Jean Nouvel for the Philharmonie 1.

Winner of the Pritzker Price in 1994, Christian de Portzamparc has for example built the Philharmonie de Luxembourg, the LVMH tower in New York City, and the Dance School of the Opéra de Paris in Nanterre, amongst others.  Winner of the Pritzker Price in 2008, Jean Nouvel is the architect of numerous landmark buildings including the Institut du Monde Arabe, the Fondation Cartier and the Musée du quai Branly in Paris.

Each with their own style, together they have managed the challenge of designing an ensemble that includes concert halls, but also multiple spaces dedicated to the work of musicians and to welcoming the public.

Beyond the exceptional quality of its concert spaces and equipment, the Philharmonie de Paris is an exceptional ensemble of architecture within the Parc de la Villette by Bernard Tschumi.