jean nouvel's 'tours duo' nears completion in paris, defined by leaning posture

photographer jad sylla documents jean nouvel’s leaning ‘tours duo’ as they near completion in paris. the two towers host a mixed-use program and rise above a former industrial site along the edge of the seine in the french capital’s rive gauche district. soon to become a ‘top business real estate destination,’ the work will introduce an eight-story hotel, office space, retail, a top floor restaurant-bar, gardens and green terraces, as well as a new point of access to the river. the pair of towers are defined by their shifted posture, subtly shifted volumes, and rippling facade.

image © jad sylla photography | @jfsylla

jean nouvel‘s ‘tours duo’ lean to suggest an asymmetrical V. the taller of the two towers rises 180 meters (590 feet) and 39 stories while the other rises 122 meters (400 feet) and 27 stories. jad sylla captures the progress of the nearly completed towers and their dynamic, shifted stances. the posture echoes that of SHoP architects’ american copper buildings along new york city’s east river, which have been realized with a similar gesture. 

image © jad sylla photography

the design team at ateliers jean nouvel comments on its tours duo, and the spirit of the design: ‘eastern paris is slowly coming into focus, building up and taking form, completing and modifying an unfinished context. this project is about building its summit, its culminating point for the beginning of the century. it is also about creating a character, a singularity that is in relation with the reality of the site, that reveals its particular beauty, that relies on it to invent and strengthen the attractiveness of the place.’

image © jad sylla photography

image © jad sylla photography

image © jad sylla photography

image © jad sylla photography

image © jad sylla photography

image © jad sylla photography

image © jad sylla photography

image © jad sylla photography

image © jad sylla photography

project info:

project title: tours duo

architecture: atelier jean nouvel

location: paris, france

client: ivanhoé cambridge and the BPCE group

developer: @ivanhoecambridge, @hines

construction: @vinci.group, @vinciconstruction

aluminum: @cortizoarch, @cortizoaluminium

glass: cricursa

photography: © jad sylla photography | @jfsylla