Tour Ariane, Office skyscraper in La Défense, France
Tour Ariane is a 152-metre office skyscraper in La Défense, Puteaux, completed in 1975 with 36 floors. Its facade is a dense grid of small square windows set in grey-blue cladding, separated by thin vertical and horizontal mullions; near the bottom left, darker panels break the pattern. The entrance was modified in the 1990s.
The tower was completed in 1975 by architect Jean de Mailly as part of the second generation of tall buildings in La Défense. It arose during a period when French business districts were rapidly modernizing and new building styles were replacing earlier urban restrictions.
The tower was called tour Générale until 1995, after the Société générale bank that occupied most of its space; it then took the name Ariane. Its facade is a dense grid of small square windows in grey-blue cladding, with thin vertical and horizontal mullions between them. Alain Robert climbed it four times, in 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2019.
Tour Ariane stands in the La Défense business district of Puteaux, west of Paris, and is reached by the RER A or Transilien from central Paris. It is a working office tower with 36 floors, so access is limited to the lobby and public areas; upper floors and company premises are not open to visitors. The entrance was modified in the 1990s.
Alain Robert, known as the French Spider-Man, climbed the tower four times: on 8 October 2009, 27 March 2014, 3 November 2015 and 13 November 2019. During the 2014 ascent he reached the top in 45 minutes while onlookers and police watched; he was arrested and released without charge.
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