Minerve (Résidence)

Minerve

Year of construction: 1984
Architects: Luc and Xavier Arsène-Henri
Height: 55 m, from 18 to 20 floors

Address: Résidence Minerve 1 - 14 rue Paul Lafargue in Puteaux / Résidence Minerve 2 - 37 rue de la République in Puteaux / Résidence Minerve 3 - 35 rue de la république in Puteaux
92800 Puteaux
Nearest car park: Michelet
Nearest public transport: Esplanade de La Défense

Like the Michelet Tower, the Minerva residence seems out of step with the times. The 1980s were marked by the abandonment of the megastructures and "proliferating" architecture of the 1960s. Small scales are also not in vogue at La Défense.
However, Luc and Xavier Arsène-Henry bet on small capacities. The residence has more than 500 dwellings. Composed of three buildings in plan with three branches, it offers terraces at the level of its upper floors. Inside, each apartment has a free and evolutionary partitioning.
The white cement concrete facades are decorated with grooves that ensure the drainage of rainwater.

A word about the architects

Graduates of the Beaux-Arts de Paris, Luc (1924-1998) and Xavier (1919-2009) Arsène-Henry had an important career until the 1980s. The two brothers made themselves known in 1953 with the Franciscan monastery of La Clarté-Dieu in Orsay. A building they imagined in white cement concrete, a material that very quickly became their trademark.
They designed several residential, office and administrative buildings and established themselves in Paris, Nîmes and Bordeaux. In 1967, they built the Chartis tower in La Défense, in association with Bernard Schoeller. This was followed by the Galion and the Minerve apartment building.

Minerve

  • Minerve
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