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La défense, France



Architects: Nicolas Sisto
Client: Aermont 

Project team: Nicolas Sisto, Benoit Cavaro, Lou Le net, Justine Dillmann 

Design team: Nicolas Sisto, Léo Schlumberger 

Photographer: Benoit Cavaro (aerial view) – Renderings L’autre Image 

Being the first construction project from Sisto Studios Architects, the pavilion Aurore is a small tower of 10 floors situated in La Défense. It is part of the Aurore project, including a renovation of a 36-story tower by Viguier Architects.

The pavilion had been conceived as a lantern. Situated in the Financial district of Paris, La Défense is an area composed of tall architecture made of glass. 

The statement of the Pavilion is based on a critical regionalism: a glass building surrounded by a frosted glass suit (vertical elements), to catch and diffuse the light from the area to the interior, and vice-versa — to create a sensitive and communicative architecture. Indeed, the tower is surrounded by the shadows of its neighboring structures. A Colibri living through the albatross.

The project is dedicated to public activities (auditorium, café, restaurants, workplaces, and a rooftop), and has the particularity to also create new public connections of 3 different urban levels, stemming from the modernist urbanism of La Défense. 

As an ecological statement, the interior is kept as raw as possible, to save on materials usually used for the finishes.