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Tour First

Kohn Pedersen Fox buildingsLa DéfenseOffice buildings completed in 1974Office buildings completed in 2011Skyscraper office buildings in France
Tour First La Defense Inauguration 6 mai 2011
Tour First La Defense Inauguration 6 mai 2011

Tour First (previously known as Tour UAP between 1974–1998, and as Tour Axa between 1998–2007) is an office skyscraper in Courbevoie, in La Défense, the business district of the Paris metropolitan area. The tower was built in 1974 by Bouygues for the UAP insurance company. The building was 159 m (522 ft) at that time. Its ground shape was in the form of a three-pointed star whose branches were separated each by a 120° angle. This particular shape was chosen to symbolize the merger of the three French insurance companies that were at the origin of UAP. The tower was renamed Tour Axa when UAP was bought by the Axa insurance company in 1996. Large-scale renovation of the tower began in 2007 and was completed in 2011. The exterior appearance of the building was completely changed, with extra height added to the tower. The renovated tower, now known as Tour First, is 225 m (738 ft) at roof height, and 231 m (758 ft) including its spire, with a total floor space of 86,707 m2 (933,310 sq ft). It is currently the tallest skyscraper in France, only surpassed in height by the Eiffel Tower. Another Axa tower exists in New York City, US, which is 228.6 m (751 ft) tall; Tour AXA in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was completed in 1974 and is 104 m (341 ft).

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Tour First (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Tour First
Place des Saisons, Arrondissement of Nanterre

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N 48.8889 ° E 2.2517 °
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Tour First

Place des Saisons 1
92400 Arrondissement of Nanterre, Quartier Gambetta
Ile-de-France, France
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Tour First La Defense Inauguration 6 mai 2011
Tour First La Defense Inauguration 6 mai 2011
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Tour Generali

Tour Generali (English: Generali Tower) was a skyscraper planned for construction in the business quarter of La Défense in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine, France). (Note that Generali also owns another prominent high-rise building on Avenue Louise in Brussels, which is also known locally as the "Tour Generali".) The project was officially initiated on 18 October 2006 and is being built for Italian insurance company Assicurazioni Generali. Part of the modernisation of La Défense, the project is being constructed by Vinci on the old site of the Iris building, which was completed in 1983. Tour Generali would have an estimated height of 319 meters (1100 feet) from ground level, at a total cost estimate of 500 million euros. The building would have had 400m² of PV cells, 800m² of solar panels and 18 axial wind turbines on site to produce energy. Other environmental initiatives being taken in the project include mixed-mode ventilation with night purging, use of thermal mass, district heating/cooling and multi-service chilled beams (e.g. ventilation, cooling heating and lighting). This building was to be constructed as a "green" building, and would have include a wind turbines in its spire, solar panels, and other environmentally friendly elements. The main entrance of the tower would have been at the 6th level of the tower along the elevated esplanade/promenade, which rises 18 metres above ground level. The Tour Generali had undergone a redesign and was shortened to 265m, which meant it would have longer held the title of the tallest building in the European Union. The project was cancelled in 2011.