The Cœur Défense project, completed in 2001 by Jean-Paul Viguier, represents a profound architectural renewal due to the scale of its program, its proximity to the esplanade, and the clarity of its facades. It replaces one of the first buildings constructed in La Défense after the CNIT—the headquarters of Esso Standard. The old building was dismantled in 1995 to gradually make way for a building steeped in avant-garde aesthetic elements from the 1920s, with two-tone façades and rotunda-shaped buildings.

Deeply urban, Cœur Défense is served by four “streets” connecting the different parts of the district. Its atrium serves as a public square on which Caesar's Thumb could have stood. The 350,000 m² building is divided between two 160-meter-high towers and three 40-meter-high low-rise buildings.

In partnership with Jean-François Jodry (1944), Jean-Paul Viguier (1946) initially worked on new towns such as Cergy-Pontoise and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. His work was part of the neo-modern movement. This style gradually faded with the arrival of large commissions, such as the French pavilion at the 1992 World's Fair in Seville.

In 1983, he won joint first prize in the competition for the Tête Défense. Three years later, he entered the restricted competition for the Passage de l'Arche. In 1994, he teamed up with Henri la Fonta for the consultation for the Masséna district. The duo he formed with Jodry split up in 1992. The Jean-Paul Viguier et Associés agency then took over the Coeur Défense project. In 2006, it won the competition for the Majunga tower.