2026
Building Components

Tour Triangle is redefining the Paris skyline – and Sika’s partnership has been at the heart of ensuring its bold silhouette could be built on time and to the highest performance and certification standards. Thanks in part to close, active support from Sika, architects Herzog & de Meuron and Valode & Pistre – together with façade contractor Metal Yapi – managed to transform one of the city’s most logistically complex facade construction projects into a seamless new icon of Parisian architecture that meets ambitious environmental and urban quality goals. 

A Complex Puzzle Comes Together

Rising up to 180 meters in the 15th arrondissement, beside the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Tour Triangle is virtually a slice of sky resting above the city, a building designed as a striking glass prism that constantly changes appearance under rain, clouds or sun, yet must perform flawlessly every day. To make this vision possible, the project’s lead architects set two non-negotiables for the facade: uncompromising aesthetics and uncompromising performance.  

With 57 different facade types and nearly 9,000 glass panels – including monolithic and insulating glass, triangular and sharp-edged glass panes, spandrel elements, single- and double-skin facade areas and more – the challenge was to create a homogeneous glass surface bonded to a large extent by grey structural silicone that appears light and consistent from a distance, but withstands noise, fire and extreme thermal demands up close.  

Achieving this meant finding a complete, fully certified facade system in both light grey and black – from primary and secondary seal for the insulating glass to structural glazing adhesives, spacer tapes, weather seals and fire-stop silicones – all compliant with French regulations, which are among the world’s most exacting and demanding. 

Tour Triangle, a new landmark in Paris containing Sika applications shown as yellow lines

Engineering a One-of-a-Kind Geometry

For facade contractor Metal Yapi, Tour Triangle pushed the limits of engineering, logistics and coordination. The triangular geometry and changing slopes required the installation of single‑ and double‑skin unitized panels with millimetric precision, along all three edges of the building. Working at heights up to 180 meters, the team had to factor in wind loads and limited crane access, while maintaining productivity and safety. 

At the same time, the tight urban site – directly adjacent to the Paris Exhibition Area – meant that construction activity could not disrupt the city’s daily logistics or events calendar, including the Olympic Games, during which work was temporarily halted. Any delay in such a high‑profile, highly regulated project would have come at a significant cost. Tour Triangle quickly became a test not only of facade design, but of urban logistics and diplomacy: coordinating many stakeholders, phasing work around events, and ensuring that every supplier could deliver on time, every time. 

A Certified, Complete Façade System

Sika joined the project at a very early stage to support both the architect with color and glass samples as well as the facade contractor, Metal Yapi, and the IG producer Kutas with engineering studies. In France, every aluminum batch must be individually certified and tested for 100% adhesion according to strict Cahier 3488 requirements.

As one of the most regulated facade markets in Europe, nothing is left to chance. This is where Sika’s breadth of expertise and local presence became decisive. The project required a fully coordinated, light grey and black system: structural glazing silicones, spacer tapes, insulating glass sealants, butyl, weather sealants and fire-stop silicones that not only matched visually, but were certified as a complete system according to French standards.

Alternative solutions would have needed to start the approval process from scratch – a risk the project could not afford. Sika, by contrast, could demonstrate existing certifications, compatibility with PVB and other interlayers, and a proven testing and technical support regime spanning manufacturing sites in Turkey and logistics and assembly in France, enabling the team to keep the project on schedule.  

Bonding Technology Designed to Blend in and Perform

The bonding concept for Tour Triangle was built around structural silicone technology, including grey structural glazing, to maintain the visual lightness of the facade while ensuring structural safety. By designing the entire envelope as a bonded and sealed system, the facade behaves as a unified, high‑performance skin rather than a collection of individual panels. 

Sika Corporate’s engineering team provided demanding support on joint dimensioning, corner calculations and special details around the building’s many transitions between flat and sloping glass. Sika Turkey’s technical facade center carried out countless tests to verify adhesion, compatibility and long-term performance on all relevant substrates. Under rain or sun, the result is a facade that appears light and seamless, even though behind the scenes it relies on complex bonding and sealing technologies to meet stringent requirements for durability, safety, energy efficiency and acoustic comfort. 

Building a Trusted Partnership

Sika convinced the architects with a fully certified, ready-to-deploy system. Metal Yapi and Kutas were accompanied in all phases of the project with immediate engineering support and an active, on-the-ground presence. Sika was deeply involved from the first sample submissions, through close corporate technical assistance and local testing in Turkey, to on-time deliveries of all materials to both Metal Yapi and Kutas.

As the project progressed, the relationship evolved into a close collaboration built on reliability. In a complex, highly regulated high-rise enveloped in Olympic-level logistics constraints, Sika became the safe, professional and dependable choice for one of Paris’ most high-stakes construction projects in decades.  

I’ve been in the business for more than 40 years. We’ve done plenty of outstanding projects, and each of them had its challenges. Still, I consider Tour Triangle as one of the most complex and demanding buildings we have ever helped create. What convinced us was that Sika did not just sell products; they stood next to our engineering teams from the first drawings to the final panel, solving complex details and securing every approval along the way." CEO, Metal Yapi

Tour Triangle now stands at the intersection of architectural ambition, environmental performance and urban complexity – and behind its light, ever‑changing facade lies a network of advanced bonding and sealing technologies that quietly keep the building, and the industry, moving forward.  

Sika’s Solutions for Tour Triangle:

  • Complete light grey and black façade system (SG, spacer tapes, IG, butyl, weather sealants, fire‑stop silicones) fully certified to stringent French norms
  • Structural silicone bonding concept, including grey silicone, to preserve the visual lightness of the façade while ensuring structural safety of the entire building envelope
  • Extensive adhesion and compatibility testing, including according to Cahier 3488 and batch‑based aluminum checks, in one of Europe’s most regulated facade markets
  • Early‑phase engineering support for Metal Yapi on joint dimensioning, corner details and complex transitions between flat and sloping glass geometries
  • On‑time delivery of all adhesives, sealants and tapes to both Metal Yapi and IG producer Kutas despite tight urban logistics and Olympic‑related interruptions
  • Local Sika testing support in Turkey to allow Metal Yapi to present all necessary test reports to the French regulatory authorities  

Sika Capabilities for Façade Partners

  • End‑to‑end façade solutions: structural glazing, IG sealing, weather sealing and fire‑stop systems engineered and tested as complete, compatible systems
  • Deep engineering partnership: joint design, corner calculations, bespoke details and project‑specific testing programs for complex geometries and high‑rise performance requirements
  • Certification expertise: guidance through demanding local standards and norms, including fast‑track testing, documentation and approvals in highly regulated markets
  • Early‑stage involvement: support from concept through execution, from sample development and color matching to mock‑ups and on‑site application advice
  • Global know‑how with local presence: international façade competence combined with local technical teams close to contractors, fabricators and IG producers
  • Reliable project execution: proven track record in on‑time deliveries, secure supply and responsive technical support on high‑stakes, time‑critical landmark projects