The Mercuriales
An urban and architectural metamorphosis
The Mercuriales Twin project
Hemisphere and Bain Capital
Levant Tower: student residence with around 990 rooms, Ponant Tower: managed serviced residence with around 690 rooms, open base with 8 retail and service spaces (cafés, restaurants, gym, meeting areas), rooftop with panoramic restaurant; integrated landscaped areas: gardens, viewpoints, planted atrium, rooftop gardens
Bagnolet, France
In progress
66,000 m²
Bechu & Associés
Atelier Coloco
Transformation of a mineral heat island into a cool island (from 830 m² of existing green spaces to 2,800 m² of landscaped areas)
Environmental approach based on comprehensive studies (acoustic, air quality, soils, carbon footprint, geotechnical analysis, heat island effect, density)
Objective: achievement of environmental labels and certifications aligned with the European taxonomy and CSR ambitions
A new breath on the eastern Parisian skyline
Erected in the 1970s, the twin Mercuriales towers have dominated the landscape of eastern Paris for decades. Their slender silhouette, visible from the ring road, has made them familiar, almost mythical landmarks of the metropolitan panorama.
For many, they embody an unfinished dream of futuristic avant-garde, whose initial boldness gradually faded behind vacant offices, a self-contained mineral base, and an urban enclave disconnected from the life of Bagnolet. Today, this complete vacancy is no longer a weakness but a revelation: the Mercuriales must reinvent themselves. Our ambition is not merely to convert square meters but to restore the towers to an active role within the city. We reject nostalgia and choose to transform this heritage into an exemplary regeneration project. It is in this spirit that we have named our approach “BREATH.” Like a living organism, the towers must open up, reoxygenate, and renew themselves in order to thrive. This breath symbolizes the transformation required to evolve from a closed, mineral object into an open, inhabited place connected to its neighborhood.
Reinventing vertical living in Bagnolet
The two towers preserve their emblematic verticality, but their interiors are being completely reinvented to meet contemporary needs.
The Levant Tower will house a student residence of nearly one thousand rooms, providing a direct response to the growing demand in the Île-de-France region. Its twin, the Ponant Tower, will be dedicated to a managed serviced residence, offering more than six hundred flexible and comfortable units for the temporary residents of the metropolis. Together, the towers will form a complex of nearly 1,700 managed dwellings, reintegrating these buildings into a contemporary urban and social framework. At the foot of the towers, the base, long opaque and dark, will finally open onto the city. An urban promenade, punctuated by visual openings and transparencies, will connect the metro, the street, and Rosa Parks Square, while introducing new shops, restaurants, services, and gathering spaces. This reinvented base will become a shared living environment for both residents and the people of Bagnolet, establishing for the first time a genuine dialogue between the towers and their immediate surroundings. The transformation will extend to the lower levels as well: level -1, formerly dedicated to technical rooms, will be converted into a large 2,000 m² logistics and retail area, while level -2 will house technical facilities and storage spaces. The podium will also feature a small urban forest, creating a green continuity that bridges the pedestrian scale with the metropolitan one.
Nature reinvents the urban experience
The landscape dimension lies at the heart of the project. With Atelier Coloco, we are transforming a mineral heat island into a living urban ecosystem.
From 830 m² of existing green spaces, we will move to nearly 2,800 m² of landscaped areas, distributed among ground-level gardens, planted belvederes, tree-filled atriums, and rooftop gardens. This green network, stretching from the base of the towers to the “cloud gardens” suspended at their summits, brings nature into every scale and creates breathing space within the dense metropolis. The environmental strategy goes far beyond simple greening. Comprehensive studies – acoustic, air quality, soil, carbon footprint, urban heat island – have guided the design. We have also integrated innovative indicators such as the UCIX (Urban Climate Index) and the BRIX (Building Resilience Index), allowing for anticipation of climate risk exposure and assessment of the project’s resilience. Architecturally, several façade options have been studied, reconciling technical constraints, energy performance, and material reuse. Whether preserving part of the existing structure with a double skin, introducing protective loggias, or fully recycling aluminum and glass, all solutions explore the same goal: reducing the ecological footprint while enhancing user comfort.
On the horizon, a new metropolitan icon
At the top of the towers, a panoramic restaurant and suspended gardens will offer a new way to contemplate Paris and its metropolis from 115 meters above ground, transforming the Mercuriales into both a destination and a living place.
The timeline of this metamorphosis matches the scale of its ambition: permit submission and clearance in 2025–2026, start of dismantling work in 2026, followed by complete transformation leading up to the planned opening in 2029. Tomorrow, the Mercuriales will no longer be just two familiar silhouettes on the Bagnolet skyline. They will become a reinvented landmark: open and inhabited, rooted in their neighborhood and oriented toward the future. A symbol of a metropolis capable of transforming its architectural heritage into a project that is more sustainable, more human, and more vibrant.
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