France | The tallest (and most hated) tower in Paris turns 50

Long criticized, the Montparnasse tower, in the south of Paris, is now part of the landscape. Emblematic of the capital, it must undergo a renovation which enchants those who, after its 50 years of existence, do not carry it in their hearts.

It thrones, with its 210 meters, on the south of Paris. At the heart of 15^e arrondissement is the only skyscraper in the French capital: the Montparnasse tower. With colors – brown and black – that betray its age.

On June 18, this tower, as unloved as it is emblematic, celebrated its 50th anniversary. Five decades that it overlooks the Montparnasse district, its train station and its cafes.

Catou Arrazat remembers very well its opening, in 1973, after years of battles between town planners, politicians and inhabitants. “The first time I entered it, says the sculptor, there were smoked Plexiglas windows, orange carpeting. For me, it represents my youth and the 1970s to death! Every Sunday, the artist, like dozens of others, sets up his stand on the Edgar Quinet creation market, at the foot of the tower.

In the hearts of Parisians, this dull building is not unanimous. But, everyone admits, the tower makes it easy to find your way around the south of Paris. To see it is to know where we are going. ” [Mais] compared to the buildings in Montreal, where my son lives, which are colorful, it’s just ugly here,” says Brigitte Raimbaut, passing through with a Parisian friend.

“It would be better if it wasn’t all black. Surely there is a way to make it more beautiful,” she thinks, surprised at the exorbitant price of admission. Because, if the Montparnasse tower is an office building, it also gives an unprecedented panoramic view of Paris, from 56^e floor of the building which has 59. Provided you pay 15 euros on weekdays and 18 on weekends (between 22 and 26 Canadian dollars, therefore).

Rayan Ampell has already had the opportunity to dine at the tower restaurant, Le Ciel de Paris. The young man lives in the neighborhood and works for a humanitarian association near Montparnasse station. “She is beautiful at night. They illuminate it with a blue light. Young people in general don’t like this tower, but I do. »

His colleague, Ambre Abdellaoui, agrees: “It looks very old-fashioned, very old architecture”, not to his taste. “It’s true that for the moment, it’s not very Dubai”, smiles Rayan Ampell, in reference to the huge skyscrapers made of stylized and luminous facades.

“If she had been clear, it would have been easier for her,” admits Virginie Picon-Lefèbvre, an architect who devoted her thesis to the modernization project of the 1960s and 1970s in the Montparnasse district.

The specialist explains that, when the project was set up in 1964, the idea was to connect a north-south motorway axis with the inner ring road via the Montparnasse district. Work took another turn, but the tower, planned from the start, was built after years of opposition. “In 1968, there was a questioning of all the modernization and construction operations of large complexes, underlines Virginie Picon-Lefèbvre. Whatever they did, the architects would have been criticized. »

facelift

The prospect of an upcoming renovation is unanimous. In 2017, a group of French architects won the international competition Demain Montparnasse, intended to think about the future of the district and the tower itself.

Gathered under the name New AOM (New Agency for the Maine-Montparnasse operation), they have set up an ambitious project. A tower that is more transparent, greener and in tune with climate needs.

With a budget of 300 million euros (more than 430 million Canadian dollars), the architects planned to add an agricultural greenhouse and photovoltaic panels on an additional floor that would raise the tower from 210 to 224 meters in height, at least. At the end of the work, the tower, which would be open 24 hours a day, could accommodate 12,000 people a day, compared to 6,000 currently.

This project was supposed to end in 2024, before the Paris Olympics. But, one year from the initial deadline, nothing has changed yet. “It’s cancelled, right? thinks Damien Labombe, who lives and works in the neighborhood, thinks he knows.

In reality, if we are to believe the gossip, the work has been postponed until after the Olympics and should last four years. Substantial efforts to rejuvenate the district and its queen, without adding other towers around. Fortunately, thinks Damien, for whom “it would not take 200 Montparnasse towers, one is good”.