NEW WAYS OF USE

Famous for its "Greek cross" floor plan and its 180-meter height, the CB21 tower is being renovated by architect Nicolas Sisto for Covivio. His new concept aims to link quality of life and quality of work, while incorporating a parameter often overlooked by modernity: consideration for the environment.

Designed by American architects Harrison and Abramovitz, who are also responsible for the UN headquarters in New York, the tower once known as "Tour Gan" was the eighth tower built in La Défense, and also the tallest upon its completion. A symbol of French industrial power, it had received the support of President Georges Pompidou against a protest campaign that considered it too tall and too visible from Paris. In 2009, it took the name CB21 and subsequently became the property of the real estate company Covivio.

Five decades after its completion, Nicolas Sisto proposes a concept designed to recapture the qualities of the original design and put it at the service of innovative work practices. The project reinvents the building's exceptional spaces to incorporate new uses — shops, restaurants, a conference center — open to the La Défense district, from its esplanade to its skyline. The renovation of the top ten floors combines the raw and the soft, environmental requirements and aesthetic boldness. A transformation that reconnects with modernist utopia, turning the tower into a place of exchange rather than an isolated object… and one that still holds many surprises in store.

Founder of Sisto Studios in 2012, Nicolas Sisto (b. 1982) is the architect behind the Pavillon Aurore (2022, Aermont), the renovation of the interiors of the Tour Aurore (2024, Aermont), the renovation of the CB21 Tower (ongoing, Covivio), and the rehabilitation of the Tour Traversière, Gare de Lyon (ongoing, STE).