Hexagone Balard
Hexagone Balard in 2016
General information
StatusCompleted
LocationParis
Coordinates48°50′08″N 2°16′34″E / 48.83556°N 2.27611°E / 48.83556; 2.27611
Current tenantsMinistry of the Armed Forces
Construction started2012 (2012)
Completed5 November 2015 (2015-11-05)
Cost€4.2 billion
OwnerFrench Republic
Dimensions
Other dimensions420 000 m²
Technical details
Floor area13.5 ha

Hexagone Balard is the headquarters of the French Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Inaugurated in 2015, more than 9,300 personnel from the French Army, French Navy, French Air and Space Force and Direction générale de l'armement have moved into this 165,000 m2 (1,780,000 sq ft)[1] white opaque glass-fronted building,[2] on 41 acres (17 ha),[3] from previously separate headquarters for each service branch. It cost 4.2 billion euro.

History

In 2011, the French Government awarded the Opale-Défense consortium a contract, for financing, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining the complex for thirty years.[4] Agence Nicolas Michelin & Associés[5] designed the seven-story command and control center, on a former army air base near the Balard (Paris Métro) in the 15th arrondissement.[6][7]

As a military base, the command of the site is handed over to the Major General of the Defence Staff, deputy to the Chief of the Defence Staff.

Personnel transferred from historical buildings in central Paris to this site in the south of the city, excepting the Defence Minister who remains in central Paris.[8] Half of the complex is renovation,[2] including an old navy building, designed in 1934 by Gustave and Auguste Perret.[5] The complex boasts a real drawbridge, interior gardens,[9] missile-strike-resisant walls and an underground operational room.[10]

Appearance

Images of the complex (as well as all military-related and sensitive government buildings in France) can't be seen on Bing Maps, Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Street View for national security reasons, yet Here WeGo, and Yandex Maps do not censor the satellite image.[11][12]

Only the faceted roof is visible from the elevated ring road.[13] It has the largest solar panel roof in Paris.

Headquarters

The complex serves as the primary headquarters of the Armed Forces. As such, the entirety of the command structure of the military is housed here:

However, the civil administration of the Ministry and the Minister are still headquartered at the Hôtel de Brienne in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.

References

  1. ↑ "Hexagone Balard - France's new Department of Defense". Archello. Retrieved 23 November 2021. All the offices are distributed within the green areas. In addition to the headquarters of the Department, the project includes many facilities, some of them open to the public and the inhabitants of the neighborhood : a health center with several medical offices, two nurseries, a hairdressing salon and a swimming pool.
  2. 1 2 "L'Hexagone-Balard, le nouveau ministère de la défense". La Croix (in French). Bayard Presse. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  3. ↑ Hipp, P. A. (5 November 2015). "The Hexagone-Balard, the "French Pentagon," Opens". Frenchly. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  4. ↑ "The French Ministry of Defence". Bouygues Construction. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 "ANMA: Hexagone Balard defence department Paris". FloorNature (in Italian). Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  6. ↑ "France's New Defense Building, Inspired by the Pentagon, Is … a Hexagon". 13 November 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2017 – via Slate.
  7. ↑ "Hexagone Balard 2015". Government of France. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  8. ↑ "France inaugurates new defence ministry, the 'Hexagon'". France 24. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  9. ↑ Chahine, Aline (March 17, 2016). ""Hexagone Balard" / Nicolas Michelin & Associates". architecture lab. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  10. ↑ Corbet, Sylvie (31 October 2015). "Missile-proof 'French Pentagon' will help fight terrorism". The Toronto Star. Associated Press. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  11. ↑ "Paris 2.276111,48.835556". Yandex Maps. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  12. ↑ "satellite map 48.83575,2.27702". Here WeGo. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  13. ↑ "ANMA's Defence headquarters features a folded metal roof". Dezeen. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
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