Tour Generali
building in La Défense
Tour Generali (English: Generali Tower) was a skyscraper planned for construction in the business quarter of La Défense in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine, France). (Generali owns another prominent high-rise building on Avenue Louise in Brussels, which is also known locally as the "Tour Generali".)
The project was officially initiated on 18 October 2006 for Italian insurance company Assicurazioni Generali. Part of the modernisation of La Défense, the project was being constructed by Vinci on the old site of the Iris building, which was completed in 1983. Tour Generali would have an estimated height of 319 meters (1100 feet) from ground level, at a total cost estimate of 500 million euros. An international competition organised by Generali, Epad, and Vinci Immobilier selected Valode & Pistre as the architects.
The building would have had 400 m2 (4,300 sq ft) of PV cells, 800 m2 (8,600 sq ft) of solar panels, and 18 axial wind turbines on site to produce energy. Other environmental initiatives in the project included mixed-mode ventilation with night purging, use of thermal mass, district heating/cooling, and multi-service chilled beams (e.g. for ventilation, cooling, heating, and lighting).
This building was to be constructed as a "green" building, and would have included wind turbines in its spire, solar panels, and other environmentally friendly elements.
The main entrance of the tower would have been at the 6th level of the tower along the elevated esplanade/promenade, which rises 18 metres (59 ft) above ground level.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Tour Generali” as building in La Défense. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as building in La Défense. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2607886. Authority coordinates are 48.889, 2.249. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2006, 1983 and 1100.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tour Generali”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tour Generali primary sources, Tour Generali archive and Tour research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tour Generali”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tour Generali” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.