The tour Perret of Grenoble Foundational construction / foundational restoration

International audienceThe tower of the 1925 International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism was to be a mere attraction for the city of Grenoble. But the Perret brothers were granted full creative freedom by authorities and the Modern milieux of Grenoble and Paris, of which Marie Dormoy, literary woman and journalist, was the linchpin.For the city of Grenoble, the goal was to allow an experienced team to demonstrate the potential of a new technique before the implementation of local construction projects to meet the needs of the postwar period.For the Perret brothers, the idea was to establish reinforced concrete as the material representative of the 20th century. The tower of Grenoble was the first of its kind, intended as a manifesto built as part of the "Concrete Order" dear to Auguste Perret.Reinforced concrete became the most used material of the 20th century and reinforced concrete construction has raised technical and ethical issues in the area of restoration for the past 30 years.The tower of Grenoble, also unique for the fact that it was left in its original state and without maintenance for one hundred years, requires extensive restoration. It has all the assets to, once again, serve as an architectural manifesto, through a pilot conservation project