Hermitage Plaza, Paris

     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 Arc de Triomphe and the Grande Arche of La Defense, Hermitage Plaza would have been visible from every corner of the capital.
   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 Arc de Triomphe and the Grande Arche of 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 buildings face one another at ground level. Open and permeable to encourage people to walk through the site, the towers enclose a public piazza which establishes the social focus. As they rise from an interlocking diamond-shaped plan, the towers turn outward to address views across Paris. The angle of the façade panels promotes self-shading and vents can be opened to draw fresh air inside, contributing to an environmental strategy that targets a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating. The highly efficient diagrid structure uses less steel and emphasises the elegant proportions of the towers

   Hermitage Plaza will create a new community to the east of La Défense, in Courbevoie, that extends down to the river Seine with cafés, shops and a public plaza at its heart. The project incorporates two 320-metre-high buildings – the tallest mixed-use towers in Western Europe – which will establish a distinctive symbol for this new urban destination on the Paris skyline.