Ariane

The Ariane Tower is one of the masterpieces of Jean de Mailly, chief architect of La Défense. Located on the edge of the district's axis, it follows the rectangular plan of the towers erected earlier. Like them, Ariane is also built on the basis of a central core of reinforced concrete. The facade, in the same material, is made of sliding formwork. But what makes the tower special is its envelope. On the facade, painted in dark grey, a metal grid and a secondary framework, designed to receive cruciform elements, are in fact installed. This cladding prefigures an architectural trend that focuses on the "skin" of the buildings rather than their structural expression.

A word about the architect

Born into a family of architects, Jean de Mailly (1911-1975) studied at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts and in the studio of Charles Lemaresquier. He then occupied the highest and most prestigious positions in his profession. Chief architect of the National Buildings in 1948, he later became a consulting architect for various ministries and public bodies such as EPAD.
First Grand Prix de Rome in 1945, he distinguishes his style by pure, sometimes severe forms and a functionalism that does not always rhyme with rationalism, which today makes him controversial for some of his residential buildings.
Pillar of the CNIT trio of architects, he designed the Bellini district as early as 1957. Co-author of the first ground plan for the EPAD, he then worked on several towers in the business district: Nobel, France and Générale.