The Montparnasse tower is the tallest office building in Paris. I once had lessons there, in fact, but I've never heard anyone say anything good about it. It's ugly, it's clunky, it's an eyesore, etc... It surely doesn't match anything around it. It just sticks up there like a steel middle finger.
The thing is, Paris usually does so well with modern architecture, even in the middle of the city. Sometimes you can be walking down a row of 19th century buildings and there will be, in the middle of the street, a modern steel-and-glass edifice just sitting there. The contrast is actually a GOOD thing! It's interesting and surprising, but there is usually at least a nod to the architecture around it.
Here, I think they were going for something starkly different, thinking that the shock value would make it stand out. In that, I guess they succeeded.
In the piece they talk about efforts to rehabilitate the façade and make it look shiny and colorful, with images and probably some advertisements on the sides. They're going for a 'Times Square' look, but I'm a little skeptical. The whole thing about Time Square is that ALL the buildings in the vicinity look like that. Here it will still be the ONLY one.
It's a shame because Paris desperately needs some more construction and probably needs to grow UP quite a bit. It doesn't have the same geographical constraints as San Francisco or Manhattan, but it does have some of the same difficulties providing affordable housing. Building more densely means building at least somewhat higher, and if you suggest that, people have a tendancy to point to Montparnasse and say, 'Not if it's gonna look like THAT!' (but in French).
