The Total Coupole tower was originally intended to be the twin sister of the Areva tower. It will be built nearly 10 years later with a clear objective: to increase the amount of office space lit by natural light. To achieve this, the architects have broken down the volumes. The complex is distinguished by a “pipe organ” layout composed of polygonal tubular elements of different sizes. The façade features a post-and-beam system enclosed by nearly 53,000 m² of curtain wall.

Natural light is provided to all offices by arranging some of them around covered entrance halls, thereby reducing energy loss.

With this structure, the Total Coupole tower won the 1986 workplace design award.

Based in Toronto since 1961, when it was founded, the agency founded by Peter J. Webb (1925-1995), Boris E. Zerafa (1933), René Menkès (1931), and Warwick H.G. Housden (1931), made construction history in 1976 by delivering the world's tallest building at the time: the CN Tower in Toronto (553 m). Internationally recognized, the firm has designed numerous office buildings and bank headquarters. However, the Total Coupole tower is its only contribution to La Défense.

The Saubot agency was founded in 1964 by Roger Saubot (1931-1999) and François Jullien. The two architects specialized in the construction of high-rise commercial buildings and collaborated with many international firms, most of them American. In 1985, they designed the Bouygues Construction headquarters in Guyancourt, in partnership with Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo.

In partnership with the renowned Skidmore, Owings and Merrill agency, they participated in the Fiat Tower project in 1964 (renamed the Areva Tower in 1979). They established themselves as the architects of La Défense and worked on 11 projects, ensuring the transition to more energy-efficient and better-lit buildings (Total Coupole, France Télécom, the Veritas offices, etc.). Roger Saubot and François Jullien then continued their careers working for the Disney Festival at Eurodisney in 1992 and the American Center, now the Cinémathèque Française.