![Morphosis show Paris tower images](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2006/11/morphosis_pharetower11.jpg)
Morphosis show Paris tower images
Morphosis, the Los Angeles architectural firm headed by 2005 Pritzker prize-winner Thom Mayne, have sent us images of their competition-winning tower for the La Défense business district in Paris.
![morphosis_pharetower.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2006/11/morphosis_pharetower.jpg)
The design, called the "Phare" (beacon), was declared the winner of the architectural contest on Friday 24 November. At 300 metres high, the 68-storey tower will be slightly shorted than the 320m Eiffel Tower when it is completed in 2012.
![Morphosis show Paris tower images Morphosis show Paris tower images](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2006/11/morphosis_pharetower71.jpg)
Morphosis describe the building as a "hybridized tower" rather than a pure office block as it contains public spaces including a 60m-high atrium, gardens, cafes, shops plus an observation deck and sky restaurant. The building's lower levels provide pedestrian links between an underground transport hub and the surrounding area.
![Morphosis show Paris tower images Morphosis show Paris tower images](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2006/11/morphosis_pharetower101.jpg)
The building contains "sustainable" technologies including a wind farm on the top and a curving facade designed to minimise solar overheating.
![morphosis_pharetower8.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2006/11/morphosis_pharetower8.jpg)
"There's a fluidity, a sensuousness, a softness to the form as it reaches to the sky," Mayne says. "Moving around the tower, it appears to shift continually, distinct from different vantage points-not a single image, but a dynamic structure that responds to its site, environment, and performance requirements."
![morphosis_pharetower2.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2006/11/morphosis_pharetower2.jpg)
It will be the first architecturally significant new tall building in Paris since the 110m-high La Grande Arche, designed by Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen and completed in 1990.