Tour Montparnasse


Tour Maine-Montparnasse, also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is a office skyscraper located in the Montparnasse area of Paris, France. Constructed from 1969 to 1973, it was the tallest skyscraper in France until 2011, when it was surpassed by the Tour First. It remains the tallest building in Paris outside of the La Défense business district., it is the 14th tallest building in the European Union. The tower was designed by architects Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan, and Louis Hoym de Marien and built by Campenon Bernard. On September 21, 2017, Nouvelle AOM won a competition to redesign the building's facade.

Description

Built on top of the Montparnasse – Bienvenüe Paris Métro station, the building has 59 floors.
The 56th floor, 200 metres from the ground, houses a restaurant called le Ciel de Paris, and the terrace on the top floor, are open to the public for viewing the city.
The view covers a radius of ; aircraft can be seen taking off from Orly Airport.
The guard rail, to which various antennae are attached, can be pneumatically lowered.

Occupation

The tower is mainly occupied by offices. Various companies and organizations have settled in the tower:
The 56th floor, with its terrace, bars and restaurant, has been used for private or public events. During the 80s and 90s, the live National Lottery was cast on TF1 from the 56th floor.

Climbing the tower

urban climber Alain "Spiderman" Robert, using only his bare hands and feet and with no safety devices of any kind, scaled the building's exterior glass and steel wall to the top twice, in 1995 and in 2015.

Criticism

The tower's simple architecture, large proportions and monolithic appearance have been often criticised for being out of place in Paris's urban landscape. As a result, two years after its completion the construction of buildings over seven storeys high in the city centre was banned.
The design of the tower predates architectural trends of more modern skyscrapers today that are often designed to provide a window for every office. Only the offices around the perimeter of each floor of Tour Montparnasse have windows.
It is said that the tower's observation deck enjoys the most beautiful view in all of Paris because it is the only place from which the tower cannot be seen.
A 2008 poll of editors on Virtualtourist voted the building the second-ugliest building in the world, behind Boston City Hall in the United States.

Asbestos contamination

In 2005, studies showed that the tower contained asbestos material. When inhaled, for instance during repairs, asbestos is a carcinogen. Monitoring revealed that legal limits of fibers per liter were surpassed and, on at least one occasion, reached 20 times the legal limit. Due to health and legal concerns, some tenants abandoned their offices in the building.
The problem of removing the asbestos material from a large building used by thousands of people is unique. The projected completion time for removal was cited as three years. After a nearly three year delay, removal began in 2009 alongside regular operation of the building. In 2012, it was reported the Maine-Montparnasse Tower was 90% free of asbestos.

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