At Porte de Pantin, facing the Paris ring road, stands the Essor Tower, an office building built in 1976 wich is almost fully abandoned. Obsolete and aging, half-occupied, this glass and concrete body is a typical example vacant capable volumes that can be found all over the metropolis. Forum 27 makes the Tour Essor a prototype for a new metropolitan hybrid. It proposes a gradual and partial metamorphosis of the infrastructure, considering disuse as a project material. By giving way to new forms of intermediary occupation, the project extends the debate on the former Office Building.
The aim is to create a place of culture and education for local residents and the population from all over Paris. The heart of the intervention lies in the redesign of the infra, i.e. the climatic, lighting and spacial elements that will make the structure capable for a radically new use. Beyond the program, the project aims to graft new vital organs and reconnect the Tower to its immediate environment. Each level is a surface of total freedom, where city residents can experience life in the metropolis in a new and sensitive way.
