Designed by Foster+Partners, the Hermitage Plaza project incorporates two 323-metre-high buildings which is crowned as the tallest mixed-use towers in Western Europe. Expected to be completed in 2014, the two towers accommodate a hotel, spa, panoramic apartments, offices and serviced apartments, as well as shops at the base.
Norman Foster said:
“Hermitage Plaza will create a 24-hour community that will regenerate the riverfront and inject new life into a predominantly commercial part of the city. A light catching addition to the Paris skyline, the development will also provide a public piazza that leads down to the river’s edge to create a new destination for the city.”
I was excited when I read the headline and saw a skyscraper in Paris. Then I read the article and only after reading the architect’s page did it become clear that this project is in Île de France and not in Paris proper. The distinction between the arrondissements and the surrounding banlieues is enormous. This would be like stating that the MIT Stata center is in Boston, instead of Cambridge. Its in the details that make the difference.