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New Eiffel Tower Has Double Skin

Paris needs another big monument. Having the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre's pyramid and la Grande Arche (need we go on) is simply not enough. Enter the new skyscraper in the La Defense district, whose design was recently chosen from ten proposals.

This new building will look taller than the Eiffel Tower (in fact it's 24 meters shorter, but that's counting the Eiffel's antennas) and will feature a few odd curves and twists to make it stand out from the average skyscraper. Architect Thom Mayne describes it like this:

There's a fluidity, a sensuousness, a softness to the form as it reaches to the sky

Sounds good enough to eat. It's also striving to be environmentally sound (thumbs up to that), with its own wind farm on top to heat and cool it for almost half the year, and a "movable double skin" to insulate cleverly against heat from sunlight. You won't be able to see the finished product until 2012, but we know you'll be waiting for it.

[Photo: dezeen via Gridskipper]

Related Stories:
· Curving Skyscraper to Soar Over Paris [MSN]
· Paris Skyscraper to Rival Tower [BBC]