Design
Could the City of Light Become the City of Height?
Paris has traditionally eschewed tall buildings, but a new wave of architects are looking to change that.
Monolithic, dazzling in sunlight and almost 700 feet tall, Paris's Tour Montparnasse is probably the most hated building in all of France. Central Paris's only true skyscraper, the tower has been vilified ever since its completion in 1973, when its arrival caused a public outcry that led to a strict citywide cap in tall buildings in 1977.
Celebrating its 40th birthday this month, the Tour Montparnasse is still widely vilified, both for its bald intrusion into the historic skyline and for its setting in a bland, traffic snarled modernist quarter at odds in height and style with its surrounding districts. Low opinions of the tower seem to be widely shared: a 2008 international poll named it the world's second ugliest building.