PRESS REPORT Eiffel Tower Paris - Pohl Facades · PRESS REPORT Eiffel Tower Paris Refurbishment of...

PRESS REPORT

Eiffel Tower Paris Refurbishment of the First Floor

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Christian Pohl GmbHRobert-Bosch-Straße 650769 CologneGermanywww.pohlnet.com

Photos

Klaus Sikora© Klaus Sikora / Pohl GmbHLicence free for press articles and product reports

Editor

Klaus Sikora KommunikationHauptstraße 1059269 [email protected]

Drawings

Moatti-Riviére22 Rue de paradis75010 [email protected]

PRESS REPORTEiffel Tower ParisRefurbishment of the First Floor

The Red Pavilions over the Champ de Mars

There are only a very few buildings worldwide that stand for a place in the iconic way the 324 meter

tall Eiffel Tower, with its intricate wrought iron lattice structure, stands for Paris. Day in, day out,

thousands of visitors wait for the lifts to bring them up to the spectacular views from the two upper

platforms. In order to better channel the ever growing stream of people, the “urban space” on the

first floor was recently refurbished, adding attractive architectural enhancements and interesting

facilities that will give visitors insights into the building itself as well as a great view of the sur-

rounding city.

On February 14th, 1887, Le Temps, a popular daily newspaper, published a petition signed by 47 promi-

nent painters, sculptors, authors and architects against the construction of this “completely useless and

monstrous tower”. The general tenor of the petition was that the planned tower was bound to disgrace

Paris aesthetically, especially considering that even the commercially minded Americans wouldn’t want it

for themselves. The huge acceptance for the modern, industrial form language of the tower soon showed

that its advocates were right, and the Eiffel Tower quickly became one of the most copied, imitated and

adapted architectural icons worldwide. Today there is even a Las Vegas replica about half as high, but Paris

continues to reap unparalleled commercial success with the original structure. The constant increase in

the numbers of visitors peaked in 2013 with more than 7 million tickets sold, putting the Eiffel Tower just

behind the Louvre in terms of popularity. In contrast to the famous museum, one of the most visited in

the world, the Eiffel Tower doesn’t exactly have much to offer in terms of interiors; no attractive spaces

to discover, no valuable treasures to marvel at. Visitors go to the tower in the hope of catching a good day

and getting a fabulous view, preferably from the very top. The two top platforms have actually become

more and more congested over the years, and only half of last year’s seven million visitors even stopped off

at the first floor.

Paris Office Moatti-Riviére won an open competition for re-conception of the lower platform, and the

proposed combination of information parcours, museum presentation, restoration and a completely new

visual experience of the building’s dimensions has now been completed. The new structure serves as an

added attraction that steers more visitors to this level, thus relieving some of the congestion higher up.

An exciting interaction between outside and the rooms inside has been realized on the balcony that goes

all round this level and interrupts the empty space between the Champ de Mars underneath and the plat-

form on the second floor above. Three pavilions created from the same material and using the same form

language are each positioned between two of the tower’s four pillars and at right angles to one another;

the large scale use of glass and the double arched front and back sides afford a fascinating view inwards

to the centre of the tower and outwards to the surrounding cityscape. By following exactly the angle of in-

clination of the tower pillars, which is 17° at first floor level, the façade geometry underscores the upwards

movement of the overall construction whilst the powerful metal braces of the glassed over areas with

their criss-cross arches cleverly combine this upwards dynamic with the metal lattice design of the tower

itself. The roofs and façade surfaces of the pavilion are cladded with large-format Pohl Euro Panels that

1The Project ...........

were, due to the structures’ sloping geometry, first designed for a 3D model and then cut 1:1 by laser. The

manufacturer had the aluminium sheets anodized and stained in a special procedure using adsorptive

dyeing that achieved the very special – and also long-lasting – effects defined by the architects. Depending

on the natural light conditions prevailing, the colour impression alternates between a very intensive red

and a simple, plain brown hue.

One of the most important goals of the project was to achieve a new perception of the tower and its sur-

roundings from the first floor. The intended result was to offer greater transparency, with further perspec-

tives of Paris, and of the inner structure of the tower itself and the space encompassed by its vast pillars.

The installation of a “glass fence” around the inner edge of the balcony and the transparency of the floo-

ring just in front of the fencing achieves just this. The bird’s eye view down through the floor to the ground

57 meters below has enhanced enormously the attractiveness of the first floor. The view through the glass

floor of the vast pillar construction directly links the newly added elements to the splendid line work of the

Eiffel Tower. The metal posts of the glass fence, as the pavilion façade too, follow exactly the 17° gradient

of the pillars, drawing one’s gaze automatically to the centre of the tower, down to the glass floor and the

visual experience of the empty space between the platform and the Champ de Mars 57 meters below. The

visitor is invited to come as close as possible to the empty space, to almost feel the threshold between fall-

ing and floating. The experience is most intense at night; the illusion of a ride in a balloon is almost real.

The newly designed centre pavilion with its renewed façade houses the two-storey restaurant 58 Tour

Eiffel, whose interior was completely renovated just a few years ago. The Gustave Eiffel Pavilion, a volumi-

nous multi-purpose hall that can seat 200 persons and features its own service areas, and the two-storey

Ferrié Pavilion that houses a museum, relaxation area, rest rooms, a shop, a convenience restaurant and

an information stall, are completely new buildings. The platform outside is a truly urban space with two

display kiosks – both cladded like the pavilions and lift foyers with red anodized aluminium shingles – that

visualize the new concept and point to the museum in the Ferrié Pavilion. Imprinted glass info boxes with

replicas of well-known objects that were inspired by the form language of the Eiffel Tower illustrate the

huge influence the structure has had on project and product designs the world over. Visitors can swipe

through the book La tour de 300 mètres by Gustave Eiffel, featuring all the drawings and plans his engi-

neering firm created for the construction work. The Gustave Eiffel Studio offers an extensive presentation

with films showing on several screens to document the strong links between the Tower and Paris.

As the long building phase of 26 months would indicate, the construction work involved was enormously

challenging. After all, the entire Tower was erected in just two years. However, retrofitting the existing

Tower structure needed a completely different approach to the original construction work. In order to

avoid any damage to the puddle iron lattice structure, all mounts requiring drilling, bolts or welding were

not permitted. Each of the newly added elements had to be clamped onto the existing structure. Standard

bolted constructions are normally around ten times more stable than clamped solutions, so construction

planning and execution of the work needed to be painstakingly accurate.

Issues of weight distribution and the special requirements to be met due to the height of the building site

and equipping it with the services needed called for special procedures. Before any new strain was put on

the structure, the corresponding weight had to be first removed from the existing building. Every compo-

nent delivered was first weighed before it was loaded onto the lift going up to the central platform, which

was used as a supply zone and an extended first floor work area. The 200 m² platform that was specially

constructed for this purpose served as a floating 57 meters high building site throughout construction,

2Eiffel Tower ParisRefurbishment of the First Floor

Construction W

orks & M

aterial ..........

and was a major factor that allowed the Eiffel Tower to remain fully open to the public throughout the

entire construction period.

The development and prefabrication of the building materials had to meet highest standards too. The

special, long-lasting red staining of the aluminium sheets was achieved using a 3-way Sandalor Combi

procedure. Following colourless anodization, the metal is pre-stained to pore level in an inorganic salt,

and then, in a third step, undergoes adsorptive surface dyeing. Compacting of the dyed material pores

leads to high-grade preservation of the staining – the result is a very high resistance to light and weather

conditions without the risk of fading or washing off; the colour of the surface remains unchanged for

decades. The choice of aluminium as a corrosion resistant, long-life and fully recyclable material and the

fact that panels can be easily replaced are guarantors for long-lasting value, and alongside its fabulous

colour quality, the special surface treatment gives the metal exceptional resilience to external influences,

including protection from graffiti.

Calculation of the geometry of the pavilion façade with its double arches was accomplished using the

mathematical principle of discretization. The surfaces are divided in this procedure into smaller units that

are sequenced in a special way until the required simple element forms emerge. The production of the

glass elements for the 128 m² transparent area took 18 months of research and development. The flooring

had to be as transparent as possible, but also completely foot-sure for visitors. This was accomplished by

using enamelled dots, a combination of glass enamelling and abrasive substances produced in serigraphy

and applied to the glass surface. The visitor stands afloat on the glass surface 57 meters over the ground,

as safe and sound as if standing on the Champ de Mars below.

The famous author Guy de Maupassant, one of the artists who signed the petition in 1887, often went

to the Eiffel Tower restaurant for lunch. He quipped that it was the only place in Paris in which he didn’t

have to see the horrible construction. Today he’d probably need to make his reservation well in advance,

but from one of the table windows at 58 Tour Eiffel he would probably have to admit that the spectacular

view of Paris, the Champ de Mars and the inside pillar structures of the Tower are an experience he simply

didn’t reckon with.


Project data:

Editor: Klaus Sikora KommunikationPhotos: Klaus SikoraDrawings: © Moatti-Rivière

Briefing:Dismantle and redesign the Gustave Eiffel Pavilion (create a multi-purpose space with seating for 200 people and service areas) and the Ferrié Pavilion (create an information centre and a relaxation area, to include rest rooms, a shop, convenience restaurant and service area).Total area: 800 m²;

Refurbish the areas open to the public (2740 m²), including furnishing, lighting, floor covering, central floor opening, re-design and approval process for safety equipment and facilities;

Dismantle and redesign the three structures in the waiting areas in front of the visitor lifts; Construction of two new kiosks with information displays;

Set up a parcours dedicated to disseminating information about the building;Renovate the façade of the 58 Tour Eiffel Restaurant (last interior renovation was in 2009)

Project Partners:Principal: SETE (Societé d‘exploitation de la tour Eiffel), ParisArchitecture, Planning: Agence Moatti-Rivière, ParisContractor: Bateg, Vélizy-Villacoublay, FranceSupervision: Grontmij Sechaud Bossuyt, Saint Priest, FranceProject Management: Socotec

Façade:Façade Construction: RFR, ParisFaçade System: Pohl Europaneel Planning and Prefabrication: Christian Pohl GmbH, CologneAluminium SheetAnodization and Staining: BWB-Altenrhein AG, Altenrhein (CH) Alutecta GmbH & Co. KG, Kirchberg (D)

Light Design: 8‘18“

Construction Data:Competition: May 2009 - October 2010Building: May 2012 - August 2014Opening: October 6th, 2014Budget: 30 million euro, financed by SETEArea: 4586 m² refurbishment area (total area of first floor: 5420 m²)

Copyrights: All drawings © Moatti-Rivière Architectes All photos © Klaus Sikora / Christian Pohl GmbH, Cologne


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