Located in the modern La Défense business district
(below) a few kilometers West
of Paris, the Grande Arche (right) was built by Danish architect Otto van Spreckelsen in 1989 for
the 200th anniversary of the 1789 French revolution.
The project was ending the kilometers long Parisian perspective from the Louvre palace to La
Défense through the Tuileries garden,
Concorde square, Champs-Elysées
and Arc
de Triomphe.
The Grande Arche is a 106 meters high cube. It has a
pre-stressed concrete frame covered with glass and Carrara marble from Italy. Its
spectacular architecture was a daring technical achievement when it was designed and
built by the Bouygues French engineering company. |
