Dominique Perrault Renovates Pont de Sèvres Towers In Paris

Being one of the best French architects and urban planners, in 2008 Dominique Perrault was charged with renovating the Pont de Sèvres Towers, renamed Citylights following a complete restructuring, in Paris. The motto was about bringing the architecture into the 21st century to suit program today, but that’s not all. The towers should become an integral part of Paris’s recent expansion towards Grand Paris.

The site, based by the Seine, is now very well connected to the public transport system, with a métro stop right outside the building, and the Grand Paris network, whose stations are now all connected to the Pont de Sèvres Towers, placing them at the heart of the city.

See how Dominique Perrault continues leaving his mark in today’s french architecture.

The architect conceived a range of spaces in order to open the project to the outside: a large plaza in front of the towers, passageways on the sides, and gardens. This means that the rehabilitation of the towers has seen a new central area that anchors the building in the city.

With the reception areas, walkways and communal spaces, Perrault is offering a new type of work environment, fit for today’s world.

“All of the work spaces receive direct daylight, and the open offices are narrow so that no more than twelve people are ever visible from any given point. The architecture of the buildings is denser than it would be, had they been conceived nowadays. Our goal with this project therefore consisted in unveiling these assets.” – Dominique Perrault.

With their prism-like shapes, the buildings are very efficient when it comes to capturing light. In fact, the hexagonal floor plan, with its central core of floors of office offers 360°views of Paris and natural light. Just like with optical instruments, the traditional opposition between the north and south faces of the buildings no longer applies.

The name Citylights, chosen by the project management, is a perfect description of the gleaming “bracelets” of the buildings. Citylights is a luminous tower, a beacon into the city in which it is now anchored. An amazing design by Dominique Perrault.