Tour Areva, Office skyscraper in La Défense, Courbevoie, France.
Tour Areva is a 178-metre office tower in La Défense, Courbevoie, with a square plan and a facade of dark granite and tinted windows. Its window bands widen with height, reducing the visual effect of its scale. The architects modelled its black prism on the monolith in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Built in 1974, the tower was first known as Tour Fiat, then Tour Framatome, before taking the name Tour Areva in 1995. Its site in the La Défense master plan was codenamed CB1. A twin tower planned where Tour Total now stands was cancelled after the 1973 oil crisis. From 2012 it housed Areva's head office, then Orano and Framatome; Orano left for Châtillon at the end of 2019.
The building embodies the functional design principles of the 1970s, with its clean geometric form reflecting the architectural thinking of that era. Its dark exterior makes it a visual landmark in the district that reflects the style of its time.
The building is easily accessible by public transportation and features modern infrastructure with numerous elevators throughout. Its central location in the business district makes it reachable from multiple transit connections.
The building's black monolithic form is often compared to the mysterious object from the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. This unexpected cultural reference has made it a fixture in popular discussions about architecture and cinema.
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