La Défense’s most seductive ghost story: two almost-Eiffel-height towers that still haunt the skyline as an unbuilt promise.
Mixed use in La Défense.
Featured in Norman Foster's definitive monograph, Norman Foster: A Life in Architecture.
Visitor Guide
Don’t waste time hunting an entrance—this project has been suspended; instead, stand on the Esplanade de La Défense and use the existing towers as a scale model for what “320m” would feel like.
Esplanade de La Défense, near the Grande Arche axis; shoot at blue hour facing west so the glassy district lights up and the proposed site reads clearly in context.
Not visitable as a building: the project is proposed/suspended rather than open to the public. Your “free alternative” is a La Défense architecture walk (the district itself is the exhibition).
The scheme was conceived as an entire mixed-use micro-city in the sky—hotel/spa/residential/office stacked to make a 24-hour neighborhood, not just a trophy pair of towers.
15-30 minutes
Design & Structure
Designed as a supertall mixed-use pair with performance-driven tower shaping (wind/comfort, daylight, and program stacking) and heavy reliance on integrated façade/structure coordination typical of Foster’s high-rise workflow.
Envisioned as high-performance glazed façades with a premium, reflective skin—architecturally important here because the surface is the “mass,” meant to read as two elegant, tapering volumes rather than bulky slabs.
Supertall logic: stiff cores + perimeter mega-structure behavior to control drift; the ambition is less about novelty than about making extreme height feel livable.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who designed Hermitage Plaza?+
Hermitage Plaza was designed by Norman Foster. It is located in Courbevoie, France.
Where is Hermitage Plaza located?+
Hermitage Plaza is located in Courbevoie, France. Its coordinates are 48.8889°, 2.2536°.
Can I visit Hermitage Plaza?+
Hermitage Plaza is a real building in Courbevoie that can be viewed from the outside. Check local information for interior access and visiting hours. Use the Parametric Atlas walking tour feature to plan a route that includes this building.