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Studio Gang and OMA among architects competing to redesign Tour Montparnasse in Paris

$326 million

Studio Gang and OMA among architects competing to redesign Tour Montparnasse in Paris

A list of seven firms (three French and four international) have been selected by the Ensemble Immobilier Tour Maine-Montparnasse (EITMM) as part of the second round of a competition to redesign the much-maligned Montparnasse Tower in Paris. Built in 1973, the 690-foot (59 story) high-rise has been the regular subject of scorn from Parisians and architects alike. Now Dutch studio OMA; British practice, PLP; French architect Dominique Perrault, and Chicago firm Studio Gang among others are in the running to take on the tower’s redesign.

Known as the Tour Montparnasse, the building changed city planning policy after its completion 33 years ago. Buildings in the French capital were banned from rising above seven stories two years after it was constructed, a policy that has allowed the skyscraper to remain as Paris’s tallest building. The full list of firms vying to re-imagine the tower can be found below:

The list of seven came from a list of more than 700 firms that entered the first phase of EITMM’s competition. In a press release, one stakeholder said the seven agencies were selected for their “reliability, expertise, audacity and their understanding of the challenges we face.”

Now the competition has briefed the chosen seven with submitting a proposal that will supply a “powerful, innovative, dynamic and ambitious new identity to the famous Parisian landmark, whilst integrating the challenges of usage, comfort and energy performance to the highest levels.” These proposals are due in March 2017. The competition’s third stage will see this list whittled down to two finalists from which a winner will be announced in July next year.

The project is due to cost $326 million with one-third of this being privately financed by Tour Montparnasse’s co-owners. Construction is set to start in 2019, being completed by 2023.

Jean-Louis Missika, deputy to the Mayor of Paris, in charge of urban planning, architecture and economic development for the Greater Paris project, said: “We are delighted with this varied and audacious selection of architects which promises a great diversity of ideas, approaches, and innovations for the transformation of the Montparnasse Tower, the initial stage in the renovation of the whole area.”

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