SoulVision

Very futuristic addition! I like it!


Tinkering at the top: Digitally enhanced images from the French architects show how the famous silhouette will change as the top floor of the tower is extended with a Kevlar platform.

Eiffel Tower to be reshaped

Sean Dodson, London | March 25, 2008 | brisbanetimes

THE elegant, tapering signature of the Eiffel Tower is to be reshaped, altering the skyline of Paris, in time for the structure's 120th anniversary next year.

The Societe d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) has announced that Serero Architects of Paris has won a competition to redesign the structure's public viewing platform and reception areas. The winning design, which will be 276 metres above the ground, will not require permanent modification of the existing structure. It will double the capacity of the public viewing area on the tower's top floor.

The new platform will be bolted onto the tower using a web of Kevlar, an extremely strong and lightweight carbon fibre used in the construction of racing cars and body armour. The platform will use a cantilevered design similar to the way an aircraft's wings are attached to the fuselage.

The design is already causing controversy, with critics questioning the wisdom of tinkering with the famous silhouette and spending money on upgrading a tourist attraction that attracts 6.9 million visitors a year.

A spokesman for SETE explained in a statement that the plan to restructure the top of the tower was intended to increase the quality of access. Average waiting times for the tower's lifts now run at more than an hour during peak periods.

Gustave Eiffel designed the tower as a temporary structure for the 1889 World's Fair. Initially rejected by the French public, it is now the most visited fee-charging monument in the world.

GUARDIAN

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