New, Futuristic Arch Will Be One of Stars at Paris Summit

In Paris, where beautiful buildings have to fight for attention, an architectural star will be born this week when leaders of the world’s seven richest nations inaugurate the great arch at La Defense.

The soaring, futuristic structure of white marble stands at the head of La Defense, a grove of skyscrapers on the city’s western fringes.

It extends an already unparalleled vista from the Louvre Museum through the Place de la Concorde to the majestic Arc de Triomphe.

Engineers for the French construction giant Bouygues, which poured 300,000 metric tons of concrete into their laser-lit creation, call it “the Eiffel Tower of our generation.”

On Saturday, President Francois Mitterrand will show off the new landmark to President Bush, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the leaders of Italy, Japan and Canada.

Over two days of summit talks, plenary meetings of the seven will be held on the rooftop 35th floor in the span of the arch, with nothing beneath their feet but a perfect rectilinear space.

Parisians, growing used to Mitterrand’s regal style as he settles into a second, seven-year term, had assumed that the new arch would be named after him.

But the news magazine L’Evenement du Jeudi says it is to be named L’Arche de la Fraternite in honor of the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, which the seven will also be helping to celebrate this week.

Unlike the monumental Arc de Triomphe, marking the past triumphs of French armies, the new arch--result of a 1982 architectural competition--is designed to house office space.

More than 100,000 people work each day in the 32 towers of La Defense, where such multinationals as IBM, Avis and Citibank rub shoulders.

The arch’s Danish creator, Johan Otto Von Spreckelsen, died in 1987 before he could see the completion of his ambitious work, hailed for its force and purity.

The only buildings he had designed before were his own house and a handful of churches.