Soon to be Completed Paris Tower Gets Colorful Exterior

The 48-story, 220-m HEKLA Tower will be the tallest building in Paris’s La Défense business district, as well as the second tallest building in all of France when completed this year, Arch Daily reports. The futuristic skyscraper currently under construction and designed by Pritzker prize-winner Jean Nouvel spreads over 76,000 m² of floor area distributed in offices, services, lobbies, an amphitheater, projection rooms, performance halls, restaurants, bars, gyms and loggias. In Nouvel’s own words, the project embodies innovation and ambition, seeking to enrich the city’s skyline with a fitting attribute: flamboyance. The façade, for example, comprises complex systems of triangular panels that line the exterior of the tower. The panels are composed of several colored aluminum struts made specifically for architectural use. The metal struts were selected from Sandalor’s range of colorful anodized aluminum finishes, which stand out for their ability to combine the material’s positive properties – non-corrosive, lightweight, durable – with a wide color spectrum. As a result, the coloring process developed by Sandalor prevents designers from sacrificing the metallic character and look of the material, permanently preserving its innate characteristics. The tower is one of four in the La Défense business district to  have a TK Elevator TWIN system installed.