More than 130 years after the Eiffel Tower was built, Dassault Systèmes has reimagined the iconic landmark to show how virtual worlds can drive the transformation of cities and infrastructures toward a more sustainable future.
As part of the “Building Tomorrow” program, Dassault Systèmes experts from many industries came together and addressed key sustainability challenges such as rapid urbanization, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy consumption using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. As part of the program, experts designed and built a low-carbon, circular and renewable version of the Eiffel Tower on the platform. The project demonstrates how public authorities, engineers, architects, logistics professionals, and construction workers can work together on new ways to enable circular practices that improve quality of life and create positive impact at all scales throughout the value chain.
Starting from a custom design by architect Nicolas Laisné, the team created a virtual twin of the tower, which includes a vertical garden decorated with 18,038 trees (corresponding to the number of metallic parts of the Eiffel Tower), 5,500 square meters of the greenhouse, and garden sheds, 451 plant species, and 200 experimental and communal gardens. used the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to create Experiencing the virtual twin with real-time data-driven insights across the value chain, the team found that large infrastructure projects can be built more sustainably through collaborative design, optimized operations, resource management, low-carbon materials production, sustainable logistics planning, and productized construction among all stakeholders. showed.
For example, the effects of different construction scenarios were analyzed by the “Building Tomorrow” team, such as modeling the height of the new tower in terms of shade, airflow, and heat, as well as modeling the water consumption needs of the vegetation in the area. In addition, the productization principle of the manufacturing industries was applied to the design and construction process by optimizing the steel supply, transportation, and manufacturing process without compromising the strength and performance of the structure. Dassault Systèmes’ Life Cycle Assessment solution played a key role in the team’s strategic decision-making, allowing them to assign environmental impact scores to each process throughout its lifecycle, from raw material procurement to delivery of finished products.
The “Building Tomorrow” project, which includes a two-meter-high 3D-printed replica of the tower, was exhibited at the Dassault Systèmes booth at the Smart City Expo World Congress held in Barcelona from 15-17 November 2022.
