Jun 22 2005
Otis, which has been installing and maintaining elevators in Paris’ La Défense business district for 30 years, has been awarded USD 27 million worth of contracts to supply two new architecturally stunning office towers – Granite Tower and T1 Tower – with the most modern Otis equipment available.
“We have equipped almost 70 percent of the towers in this most prestigious business district,” said Otis President Ari Bousbib, “and we are very pleased to continue that tradition with these two new innovative, architecturally distinct buildings.”
The banking group Société Générale selected Otis to provide vertical transportation for its new 44-story Granite Tower developed by NEXITY/DUMEZ, set to open in 2008. Thirty elevators, including the first two “double-deck” models installed in France, will serve 4,500 employees occupying 55,000 square meters of office space.
The Granite Tower, designed by world-renowned architect Christian de Portzamparc, is a triangular prism 184 meters tall. Two of the building’s elevators will be double deck, with one car on top of another, allowing two floors to be served simultaneously. Other groups of elevators will serve different sections of the building, freight requirements and parking facilities.
Otis will also equip T1 Tower, designed by architects Valode & Pistre and owned by Colony Capital. Resembling a large sheet of folded glass, T1 achieves magnificent aesthetic effects with curves and light. The 42 floors of T1 Tower have a surface area of 70,000 square meters. The building is being equipped with 28 units, including a high-rise bank of six elevators capable of carrying passengers at 7 meters per second. Both Granite Tower and T1 will benefit from Otis jump lift technology, which allows service elevators to operate during building construction.
Otis Elevator Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, is the world's largest manufacturer and maintainer of people-moving products, including elevators, escalators and moving walkways.
With headquarters in Farmington, Connecticut, Otis employs 60,000 people, offers products and services in more than 200 countries and territories and maintains more than 1.45 million elevators and escalators worldwide.