Jean Nouvel.
Photo: Oli Scarff / Staff/ Getty.

Jean Nouvel’s “tours Duo” could have its planning permission revoked as the French organization “Monts 14” takes the city to court this week in an effort to stop construction before it starts.

The group “Monts 14” (fourteen mountains) filed a new appeal with the administrative court in Paris on Wednesday, March 16, against the construction of Nouvel’s Duo towers, due to commence later this year, according to Le Revenu.

Starchitect Nouvel is not having a good 2016. Not only is there great opposition to his monumental construction on the banks of the River Seine, but also his design for an extension for Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva was rejected by a local council vote with a margin of only four percent, as recently reported by the Art Newspaper.

Rendering of the Duo Towers.
Photo: courtesy Ateliers Jean Nouvel.

“Monts 14” is arguing that the environmental study done on the impact of the towers on the Paris skyline, used to gain permission for the building, is inaccurate and underestimates the potential effects of the project on the city’s skyline and the view of the Pantheon. “Monts 14” are also saying that the rendering of the project provided to gain planning permission makes the towers look smaller than they would be once built, and thus the decision to grant permission is based on incorrect information and is therefore invalid.

Rendering of the Duo Towers.
Photo: courtesy Ateliers Jean Nouvel.

The Duo towers, a project run by Ivanhoe Cambridge a real estate subsidiary of Canadian investment company Caisse, are due for completion in 2020. The asymmetrical towers will be situated in the 13th Arrondissement by the railway on the banks of the Seine, one tower will stand at 29 floors and 122 meters and the other at 37 floors and 180 meters. The development will house 96,100 square meters of office space a hotel, a restaurant bar, an auditorium, shops, a garden, and garden terraces.

This is the final push by “Monts 14” which has been to court three times since 2011 in an effort to derail the building of Nouvel’s Duo towers—and failed.