Hermitage Plaza will create a new community to the east of La Défense, in Courbevoie on the outskirts of Paris. The community will extends down to the river Seine and feature cafés, shops and a public plaza. The project incorporates two 320m-high mixed-use buildings, which will beat London’s Shard by 10m.
The project is intended to inject life into the area east of La Défense by creating a sustainable, high-density community. The two towers accommodate a hotel, spa, panoramic apartments, offices and serviced apartments, as well as shops at the base.
The buildings face one another at ground level and enclose a public piazza. 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 diagrid structure has been designed to reduce the amount of steel and emphasises the proportions of the towers.
A crystal-shaped podium building will contain office space, with two detached satellite buildings housing a gallery and auditorium. The piazza – created by burying the existing busy road beneath a landscaped deck – slopes downward to the water’s edge, which is lined with new cafés and restaurants.
Grant Brooker, a senior partner at Foster + Partners, said: “Our ambition was to create a project that would inject new life into La Défense by bringing a new type of occupation and creating a new public focus on the edge of the Seine. This announcement represents a very important stage in the project’s development and is thanks to the passion of our client, Emin Iskenderov, and the support we have had from EPAD, the City of Courbevoie and the Département de Hauts-de-Seine – we could not have reached this milestone without them.”
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