
Tour du Crédit Lyonnais
Cylindrical brown skyscraper nicknamed the Pencil, its roof levelled to match a nearby basilica hilltop.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Tour du Crédit Lyonnais starts on marshy ground that flooded for centuries until stone embankments finally dried it out in 1772. It follows the 1974 construction crew who drove foundations twenty-six meters down into that old swamp, and architect Araldo Cossutta, bound by an unusual rule tied to the Fourvière hilltop across the river. Stand at the tower's base and look across the water toward the basilica on the hill.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Orange cube
Perforated orange aluminum cube pierced by a spiraling void that floods offices with river light.
Brotteaux
Grand riverside quarter built on former flood-carved islands, anchored by a stone and iron former railway hall.
Metallic tower of Fourvière
Steel observation tower echoing the Eiffel Tower's summit, seized for scrap by wartime occupiers before becoming a broadcast mast.
Gare des Brotteaux
Former railway hall of carved facades and painted ceilings, built on ground once a willow-covered river island.
Musée des Confluences
Deconstructed glass-and-steel cloud rising over docks that once stored sugar, salt, and wine.
Parc de la Tête d'Or
Sprawling landscaped park built over a drained swamp, centered on a sixteen-hectare artificial lake and free zoo.