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Paris's New SOM-Designed Skyscraper Aims to Be Among Europe’s Greenest Buildings

by Rick Anderson

In a city where the Eiffel Tower (rightly) dominates the skyline, it’s hard for more modern Parisian architecture to stand out. But if a new project from Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) lives up to expectations, that could change for reasons that have little to do with the project's height. As part of a broader coalition of architects, landscape designers, and urban developers working on the Charenton-Bercy project, SOM has introduced plans for a 590-foot-tall mixed residential and hotel tower in the shadow of the River Seine. Aiming to exist as a zero-energy building, once completed, it would stand as one of the greenest buildings in Europe.

To achieve that honor, SOM will employ a variety of conventional and cutting-edge sustainability tactics. In addition to waste-to-energy conversion, greywater recycling (the process of reusing water from showers, sinks, and washing machines), and rainwater collection, the Charenton-Bercy tower will feature suspended gardens, which serve as the core from which every 1.5-story loft-style apartment is accessed. These will run the length of the tower all the way down to a tree-filled plaza filled with shops and cafés at its base.

An aerial shot shows where the skyscraper would be located in relation to the Seine and the Eiffel Tower (in the distance).

The project’s green focus extends beyond the front doors of the tower, however. The revitalized Charenton-Bercy area can be accessed by landscaped garden bridge that spans the Seine via an existing railway crossing, meeting the project’s goal of linking Paris with its suburbs. One third of the full redevelopment effort (assisted in part by landscape architecture firm Ateliers 2/3/4) will be dedicated to green space. At least one tree will be planted for each of the project’s 1,000 residential units, 30 percent of which will be subsidized social housing.

In addition to residential and hotel units, the area will include roughly more than 2.1 million square feet of office, retail, and leisure space. A timber-framed 360-degree building known as Neo will have an interactive LED façade, as part of an effort to position the area as a digital hub for eastern Paris. If successful, these efforts could earn the broader Charenton-Bercy redevelopment project WELL Community Standard accreditation, a new pilot designation that aims to honor healthy and harmoniously organized community spaces. Which is all to say, modern architecture in Paris could start having an exciting movement soon.

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