Tour de la Biodiversité

Project Description

The relationship between building height and sustainability is a subject that currently occupies the minds of many city planners. This is because the city cannot expand infinitely into the landscape. In France, however, „village“ urbanism seems to be adamantly resisting the vertical city, without truly considering its potential. One of the objectives of our project is to counteract this reluctance. Benefiting from an exception to the 37-metre building height restriction in Paris, the tallest building of our project is 50 metres tall. Covered with plants from wild natural areas, our tower is a seeding vehicle: it allows the wind to spread first-class purebred seeds into the urban environment. Its height is a key aspect of its capacity to regenerate urban biodiversity. Its titanium cladding generates moiré patterns that give it a subtle, fluctuating character. The tower is thus not only a tool for neighbourhood development, but also a tool for development on a wider scale, as it exudes a „green“ aura within the Parisian cityscape. The green vegetal façade of the tower extends over the centre of the block to the surrounding buildings. These smaller buildings are simpler, with metal façades in zinc and aluminium. They are situated at the corners of the block, allowing pedestrians to stroll through a calm, protected garden filled with low vegetation, as if they were outside of the city.