Paris skyscraper set for makeover

Soon, one may not be able to recognise Paris’s most controversial building, the steel-and-glass Tour Montparnasse, which has loomed over the city’s Left Bank since 1973. But now, the much talked about skyscraper is due for a $700-million makeover that could radically change its appearance.

An architectural competition was recently announced to revamp the tower, part of a plan that will also see the now sad-looking mall and car-filled plaza at its foot get a major overhaul. The declared objective is to create a “Parisian Times Square” in time for Paris’s possible hosting of the 2024 Olympic Games.

Manhattan’s central square might not seem the most obvious role model for the City of Light, but Paris doesn’t really have good examples of busy, skyscraper-lined plazas much closer to home. It is also true that a major revamp of the once artistically vibrant Montparnasse neighbourhood could do much to revive enthusiasm for the area.

The revamp’s first objective, however, seems to be to do anything possible to update the tower. There is also the possibility of coating the tower with a second skin that could show grey or blue, depending on the weather. A revamp should transform the image of the tower, but for the public, it is arguably down at the tower’s base that it will have most effect.

As part of an agreed remodelling due to begin in 2017, the mall’s floor space will be tripled to over 40,000 square metres, while 200 to 300 new public housing units will be built, squeezed into a tight stack of buildings that would be topped with trees. The surrounding space will become more pedestrian-friendly.