Société Générale Head Office

Rising more than 160 m above the esplanade at La Défense, the 36 and 37-floor towers, Chassagne and Alicante, respectively, were built in 1995 for Société Générale. The buildings cover a total surface area of 204,000 m2, stand 40 m apart, and include conventional office space. Like two parts of a cylinder slashed in the middle, they are connected by a series of trading rooms in the heart of the bank.

background

The idea behind the project? To bring together Société Générale employees, until then located in fifty or so buildings in central Paris, in the company’s head office. The buildings, mostly in the Haussmann style, made it difficult for new service technologies to be introduced. So, this construction was born out of the will to create synergy within the group and facilitate the entry of one of the largest French private banks into the 21st century.
The construction of the building was constantly guided by three major objectives: foster more effective intra-company communications, adopt the latest data processing and distribution tools, and enable the company to keep pace with rapid technological developments in its field.

technical overview

The towers are perfectly symmetrical but not identical. One houses banking activities and the other, administration. But their difference is in their interior facing. For Chassagne, the facing is in white lime and for Alicante, in red marble. So, the towers have taken the respective names of their facing materials. Also, Chassagne has 37 floors whereas Alicante has 36. The Chassagne tower’s additional floor houses executive offices.
To reflect the image of the company in the interior, artist Tom Carr was asked to design a sculpture in the form of a rugby ball with red spirals in the main hall of the building.
Everything was conceived with the interior design of the structures in mind so that the towers combine comfort with modernity.
The building was designed to provide a conducive working environment. So, the floor space has an overall optimised design, particularly through the judicious distribution of brightly lit and windowless areas, the size of offices and also the dimensions of the core.

The façade was designed to resist winds up to a speed of 350 km/hr. It took only four months to install it.

IMPACT

The construction of the Chassagne and Alicante towers fulfilled major objectives: provide an efficient building in line with Société Générale’s needs, facilitate all communications activities, including the social aspect, develop the image that Société Générale wanted to cultivate for itself and create a successful legacy structure. The construction of the bank’s new head office also helped provide the flexibility and comfort that constantly evolving new technologies require.
With this building, Société Générale decided to take a leap forward into modernity.

Project participants

Client
SNC CGE Lucia, Défense Nord

Project management
Sari Ingénierie, Cabinet Andrault et Parat

Key figures

Implementation dates
August 1992 toAugust 1994

Number of towers
2 towers and a central zone

Height
160 m (36 and 37 floors)

Surface area
204,000 m2