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"LA Grande Arche de la Defense," erected to
the West of Paris, is a monumental building
designed by the Danish architect, Johan - Otto Von
Spreckelsen , in 1983.
The design of the structure was developed by
COYNEet BELLIER , Consulting Engineers, and
the civil works were performed by the company
BOUYGUES, between June 1985 and July 1989.
((La Grande Arches )) is Structurally organized
as a monolithic hollow cube with sides about 110m
long laying on two lines of six megapiles each.All 12
megapiles are designed to support up to 300000
tonnes. The complexity of the project and the works
done were due to:
The site which was already occupied by many
existing projects (highway, railway, parking areas,
etc.),
The phases of construction, large spanning
beams at high levels, limited tolerance of
construction.
The time schedule which was extremely short
for studies as well as for constnuction .