What’s old is new again! The iconic Eiffel Tower’s first floor overhaul with redesigned spaces, functions and facilities nears its completion. Perched at 57 meters above the city, the upgraded first floor will offer an improved experience of the tower and the romantic city, overlooking the Haussmann buildings and the inter-woven streets, invalids and Seine. The floor reorganization will rebuild the reception and conference rooms to turn it into a public space, particularly restaurants and shops; creating an entertaining and educational museographic path. Architectural glass will be the centerpiece of the renovation. Visitors can also walk (crawl or even jump!) on the glass floor that gives the experience of walking above the corbelled structure of the first floor.
French studio Moatti-Rivière Architects were entrusted for the reconstruction of the 5000-square-metre floor, withholding respect for the monument and its history. The obsolete pavilions of the 1980s have been replaced with new self-contained structures. The pavilions hug the incline of the tower: the volumes are incorporated into the depths and curves of the pillars. In this way, they mirror the Tower’s rising movement and cannot be separated from it. Service areas are placed next to the gables so as to preserve the central transparency. The view of the iron lattice tower, close up or far away, is the same on all four of its sides. The grille of the balustrade has also been replaced with glass.
The reconstruction will also enable disabled to access the whole space. The proposed project has also adopted a sustainable development charter. Solar energy for heating, wind energy, hydraulic energy, rainwater recovery, LED lighting: various techniques will be implemented to enable a “green makeover”. The reconstruction cost SETE (Eiffel Tower Operating Company) more than €25 million. The first floor was last renovated 30 years ago.
The Eiffel Tower, since 1889, has attracted more than 250 million visitors. Estimated to be worth €435 billion ($545 billion) to the French economy, this 1,050 ft tall monument built in 1889 is the most valuable monument in Europe
[Via – Dezeen]
