Private car transportation from Roissy CDG to CNIT in “La Défense” district

History and visit the Center of New Industries and Technologies in Paris

The Center of New Industries and Technologies or CNIT is a great twentieth century style building located west of Paris, 2 place de la Défense, in the commune of Puteaux. It was built between 1956 and 1958 by five architects, including :

• Robert Camelot,
• Bernard Zehrfuss,
• Jean Prouvé,
• Jean de Mailly,
• Nicolas Esquillan.

It belongs to Unibail-Rodmaco, the leading listed commercial real estate in Europe.

Building with four levels

CNIT is a building with four levels, covering a total area of 130,000 square meters. There is a shopping center called Les Quatre Temps. It has more than two hundred shops and stores. CNIT also owns a convention center and exhibition which includes two auditoriums with a capacity of 750 seats and 1200 and thirty-five meeting rooms, a hotel, several offices, a space dedicated to cinema and leisure, a few cafes and restaurants.

CNIT is open Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 20 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 19 pm. Restaurants and cinemas, however, remain open until 23 pm. All those who want to get at the CNIT in public transport can take :

• bus lines 73, 141, 144, 159, 161, 174, 178, 258, 262, 272, 275, 278, 360 and 378,
• subway by line 1,
• RER line A station Grande Arche de la Defense,
• the train by U and L lines and tram line T2 by station La Défense.

CNIT : the construction

The construction of the CNIT was an idea the union president of French manufacturers of machine tools, Emmanuel Pouvreau in 1950. The French industry was at the time undergoing a renaissance. Mr Pouvreau decided to create a building that will serve as a center of exhibitions for industries. The building was erected on the site of the ancient Zodiac factory.

September 12, 1958, General de Gaulle inaugurated with his Minister of Culture, André Malraux at the international exhibition of machine tools. He was baptized National Center for industries and techniques. For over twenty years, the CNIT hosted several exhibitions such as household Arts, the Paris Boat Show, etc. In the early 1980s, Christian Pellerin, the property owner planned to renovate the CNIT like the major US business centers.

A true icon of French engineering and architecture

The interior of the building was completely renovated in 1987. It laid out a commercial area, a convention center and exhibition, a new generation of technological space, restaurants, a luxury hotel and an office. Opened in 1989, the building became known as Center of New Industries and Technologies. A few years later, became the CNIT Unibail-Rodmaco property. In 2006, he appealed to architects Brullmann Cuno, Jean-Pierre and Luc Crochon Parrat to make a new restructuring of the building in both its domestic and external appearance. The CNIT was opened for the third time with new commercial and office space on 2009. After the renovation, the exterior of the roof of the building also regained its original whiteness.