| Hexagone Balard | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Hexagone Balard in 2016 | |
 Interactive map of the Hexagone Balard area | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Location | Paris |
| Coordinates | 48°50′08″N2°16′34″E / 48.83556°N 2.27611°E /48.83556; 2.27611 |
| Current tenants | Ministry of the Armed Forces |
| Construction started | 2012; 14 years ago (2012) |
| Completed | 5 November 2015; 10 years ago (2015-11-05) |
| Cost | €4.2 billion |
| Owner | French Republic |
| Dimensions | |
| Other dimensions | 420 000 m² |
| Technical details | |
| Floor area | 13.5 ha |
Hexagone Balard (French pronunciation:[ɛɡzaɡonbalaʁ,-ɡɔn-]) is the headquarters of theFrench Armed Forces and theMinistry of the Armed Forces. Inaugurated in 2015, more than 9,300 personnel from theFrench Army,French Navy,French Air and Space Force andDelegate General of Armaments (DGA) have moved into this 165,000 m2 (1,780,000 sq ft)[1] white opaque glass-fronted building,[2] on 41 acres (17 ha),[3] from previously separate headquarters for each service branch. It reportedly cost around 4 billion euros to build.[4]
In 2011, the French Government awarded the Opale-Défense consortium a contract, for financing, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining the complex for thirty years.[5] Agence Nicolas Michelin & Associés[6] designed the seven-storycommand and control center, on a former army air base near theBalard (Paris Métro) in the15th arrondissement.[7][8]
As a military base, the command of the site is handed over to theMajor General of the Defence Staff, deputy to theChief of the Defence Staff.
Personnel transferred from historic buildings in central Paris to this site in the south of the city, excepting theDefence Minister who remains in central Paris.[9] Half of the complex is renovation,[2] including an old navy building, designed in 1934 by Gustave and Auguste Perret.[6] The complex boasts a real drawbridge, interior gardens,[10] missile-strike-resistant walls and an underground operational room.[11]
Images of the complex (as well as all military-related and sensitive government buildings in France) can't be seen onBing Maps,Google Maps,Google Earth, andGoogle Street View for national security reasons, yetHere WeGo, andYandex Maps do not censor the satellite image.[12][13]
Only the faceted roof is visible from the elevatedring road.[14] It has the largest solar panel roof in Paris.[citation needed]
The complex serves as the primary headquarters of the Armed Forces. As such, the entirety of the command structure of the military is housed here:
However, the civil administration of the Ministry and the Minister are still headquartered at theHôtel de Brienne in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.
All the offices are distributed within the green areas. In addition to the headquarters of the Department, the project includes many facilities, some of them open to the public and the inhabitants of the neighborhood : a health center with several medical offices, two nurseries, a hairdressing salon and a swimming pool.
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