Crédit Lyonnais Tower
Lille, France · 1995
A precedent for sculptural high-rise geometry, demonstrating how a continuous metal-clad envelope can transition from a horizontal base into a soaring, wedge-shaped tower.
- What we like about this project
- The way the entire building appears to balance on a narrow base, sweeping upward like a ski jump.
Materials
- metal-cladding
- glass
- aluminum-panels
Visual identifiers
- angled-roofline
- boot-shaped-tower
- metal-panel-facade
- punched-ribbon-windows
- sculptural-highrise
Style tags
- deconstructivist
- sculptural
- late-modern
Visual tags
- deconstructivism
- sculptural-form
- corporate-headquarters
- high-rise
- skyline-landmark
- Geometry
- A dramatic L-shaped or boot-shaped profile where a low-rise horizontal plinth curves and sweeps upward into a sheer, wedge-shaped vertical tower with a sharply angled, sloping roofline.
- Facade system
- Unitized metal panel rainscreen with integrated ribbon glazing.
- Structural guess
- Concrete core with perimeter steel framing to support the dramatic cantilever and sloping profile.
- Spatial scale
- A high-rise commercial scale tower rising many stories above its base.
- Lighting
- Bright, diffused daylight with soft shadows, highlighting the metallic sheen of the panelized facade against a cloudy sky.
- Atmosphere
- Futuristic and soaring, with the metallic skin reflecting the shifting tones of the sky.
- Environmental context
- Shot from a low angle looking up, framed entirely against an open sky with clouds.
- Spatial experience
- The building reads as a dynamic, sculptural landmark slicing through the sky, shifting its silhouette dramatically depending on the viewer's angle.
- Composition rhythm
- Punched rectangular windows are arranged in horizontal bands that follow the sweeping curve and vertical rise of the volume.
- Style reading
- Late-modernist deconstructivism
- Program
- Commercial office headquarters
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- metal-cladding, glass, aluminum-panels
- Visual identifiers
- angled-roofline, boot-shaped-tower, metal-panel-facade, punched-ribbon-windows, sculptural-highrise
- Style tags
- deconstructivist, sculptural, late-modern
- Visual tags
- deconstructivism, sculptural-form, corporate-headquarters, high-rise, skyline-landmark
- Geometry
- A dramatic L-shaped or boot-shaped profile where a low-rise horizontal plinth curves and sweeps upward into a sheer, wedge-shaped vertical tower with a sharply angled, sloping roofline.
- Facade system
- Unitized metal panel rainscreen with integrated ribbon glazing.
- Structural guess
- Concrete core with perimeter steel framing to support the dramatic cantilever and sloping profile.
- Spatial scale
- A high-rise commercial scale tower rising many stories above its base.
- Lighting
- Bright, diffused daylight with soft shadows, highlighting the metallic sheen of the panelized facade against a cloudy sky.
- Atmosphere
- Futuristic and soaring, with the metallic skin reflecting the shifting tones of the sky.
- Environmental context
- Shot from a low angle looking up, framed entirely against an open sky with clouds.
- Spatial experience
- The building reads as a dynamic, sculptural landmark slicing through the sky, shifting its silhouette dramatically depending on the viewer's angle.
- Composition rhythm
- Punched rectangular windows are arranged in horizontal bands that follow the sweeping curve and vertical rise of the volume.
- Style reading
- Late-modernist deconstructivism
- Program
- Commercial office headquarters
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture