The EDF-GDF tower is an office building built in 1974 in the heart of the new town of

Cergy Cergy () is a commune in the French department of Val-d'Oise, in northwestern suburbs of Paris. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the " new town" of Cergy-Pontoise, created in the 1960s, of which it is the central and most populated ...

, France, in the Cergy Prefecture business and administrative district.

History

The building was emptied in 2015. Julie Ménard
Cergy-Pontoise : la tour EDF transformée en galerie d’art
''Leparisien.fr'', 27 mai 2019 Engie (new name of EDF) announced it would sell the building. In March 2017, it was announced that the office building would be turned into a residential building and repurposed as a dorm for students. Some heavy work to modify the structure of the building were planned, but the exterior look is supposed to remain the same.

Description

Its architect is

Renzo Moro Renzo Moro, born in 1933, is an architect. After graduating from the École polytechnique fédérale de Zurich, Moro moved to France. He worked with Andre Remondet, Grand Prix de Rome. He then joined the Atea-Setap directed by Guy Lagneau, Mich ...

. The tower is high, with 14 floors. It was built to house the sister companies

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

(EDF) and Gaz de France (GDF). For fire management, the tubular frame of the tower is filled with water and a water tank is located on top of the building. The top 3 floors of the tower (no windows) are dedicated to the technical services of the building. This construction style was patented by the colonel Mutin and built by the construction company Durafour. It was the first building with this construction style in France.

In popular culture

The tower was used as a filming location in

Henri Verneuil Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International Fi ...

's film '' I... comme Icare'' released in 1979, starring

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, Ivo held strong ...

. This is the tower from which the shots were fired to assassinate president Marc Jarry.

References

Office buildings completed in 1974 Buildings and structures in Val-d'Oise Électricité de France Engie 20th-century architecture in France {{france-struct-stub