Initiale

Initiale

Year of construction: 1966
Year of renovation: 2003
Architects: Jean de Mailly and Jacques Depussé, with Jean Prouvé
Surface area: 34,300 sq.m
Height : 105 m, 35 floors
Former name: RTE-Nexity

Address: 1 terrasse Bellini - 92800 Puteaux
Nearest car park: Michelet
Nearest public transport: Esplanade de La Défense

The first tower built at La Défense, by the engineer Jean Prouvé and the architects De Mailly and Depussé, its rehabilitation was both an artwork to restore the abundance of inventions that this precursor building constitutes and its inscription in the contemporary world through a reformulation of the interior spaces, based on light. Inside, a universe of light inscribes the tower in the contemporary sensibility, without stylistic clashes with the original architects; luminous ceilings, opalescent walls, dematerialization of the opaque plans by coloured light plans ... In the evening, when the lines of light at the edge of each floor and the central core light up, like a heart of light, the tower displays its renewal and its unique presence in the concert of the towers of La Défense.

A word about the architects

Considered one of the inventors of the curtain wall, Jean Prouvé (1901-1984) marked the business district with significant interventions without having built any buildings. His contribution is no longer visible in its mareriality. His two artworks have indeed been renovated. The first is the Cnit fence, for which he designed, with his son Claude Prouvé, the 206 m of glass facades. The second, particularly noteworthy, is that of the façades of the Initiale tower, subsequently renovated by the Valode et Pistre agency.

Initiale

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