| Grande Arche de la Défense | |
|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Type | office |
| Location | La Défense,Île-de-France, France |
| Coordinates | 48°53′34″N2°14′09″E / 48.89278°N 2.23583°E /48.89278; 2.23583 |
| Construction started | 1985 |
| Completed | 1989 |
| Inaugurated | 14 July 1989 |
| Height | 110 m (360 ft) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Johan Otto von Spreckelsen Erik Reitzel |
La Grande Arche de la Défense (French:[laɡʁɑ̃daʁʃd(ə)ladefɑ̃s]; "The Great Arch of the Defense"), originally calledLa Grande Arche de la Fraternité (French:[fʁatɛʁnite]; "Fraternity"), is amonument and building in the business district ofLa Défense and in the commune ofPuteaux, to the west ofParis, France. It is usually known as theArche de la Défense or simply asLa Grande Arche. A 110-metre-high (360 ft) cube, La Grande Arche is part of the perspective from theLouvre toArc de Triomphe, and was one of theGrands Projets of François Mitterrand. The distance from La Grande Arche to Arc de Triomphe is 4 km (2+1⁄2 miles).[1]
A great nationaldesign competition was launched in 1982 as the initiative of French presidentFrançois Mitterrand.Danish architectJohan Otto von Spreckelsen (1929–1987) and Danish engineerErik Reitzel (1941–2012) designed the winning entry to be a late-20th-century version of theArc de Triomphe: a monument to humanity andhumanitarian ideals rather than military victories. The construction of the monument began in 1985, with most of the work being carried out byFrench civil engineering companyBouygues. Spreckelsen resigned in July 1986 and ratified the transfer of all his architectural responsibilities to his associate, French architectPaul Andreu. Reitzel continued his work until the monument was completed in 1989. The Grande Arche is in the approximate shape of a cube with a width, height, and depth of 110 m (360 ft); it has been suggested that the structure looks like ahypercube (atesseract) projected onto the three-dimensional world.[2] It has aprestressed concrete frame covered withglass and is covered in Bethel Granite.
La Grande Arche was inaugurated in July 1989, with grand military parades that marked the bicentennial of theFrench Revolution. It completed the line of monuments that forms theAxe historique running through Paris. The Grande Arche is turned at an angle of 6.33° about the vertical axis. The most important reason for this turn was technical: with aParis Métro station, anRER station, and a motorway all situated directly underneath theArche, the angle was the only way to accommodate the structure's giant foundations. In addition, from an architectural point of view, the turn emphasises the depth of the monument and is similar to the turn of theLouvre at the other end of the Axe Historique. In addition, theArche is placed so that it forms a secondary axis with thetwo of the highest buildings in Paris at the time, theTour Eiffel and theTour Montparnasse.
The two sides of theArche house government offices. The roof section was closed in 2010 following an accident without injury[3] and the marble tiles which had begun to peel off were replaced with granite ones. It opened again in 2017 after seven years of renovation work. It features panoramic views of Paris and includes a restaurant and an exhibition area dedicated to photojournalism.[4]
The void contains skeletal shafts for panoramic lifts and aPTFE-and-fibreglasstensile-membrane sunshade known as the "Cloud" (Le nuage).[5]
The Danish architect, von Spreckelsen, chose ItalianCarrara marble for the tile cladding of the façade, for the marble's gleaming, milky white exterior. This caused structural problems, as marble is porous, rainwater got into its pores, and when the temperature froze, the ice in its pores cracked the marble, and tiles began buckling and falling down, luckily without, however, hitting, injuring or killing anyone. The monument had to be closed for a few years while French engineers (von Spreckelsen had retired from the project before it was completed and was dead by the time of the collapsing tiles) had the marble tiles removed and replaced with granite quarried in Vermont, which has proved durable, at a cost of some €200M.[citation needed]
Organisations headquartered in the Grande Arche include theBureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer (BEAmer), the French marine accident investigation agency; and theFrench Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau, in the southern portion.[6][7]
Stéphane Demoustier's 2025 filmThe Great Arch (L'Inconnu du Grande Arche) dramatized von Spreckelsen's efforts to realize the project.[8]
Grande Arche - Paroi Sud, 29e étage, 92055 LA DEFENSE Cedex
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