France

Foster + Partners has unveiled plans for a new winery that will be part-built with sustainable building techniques and blends in with the landscape.

Following the fire that devastated France's iconic Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, several firms have stepped forward with ideas to restore it. Gensler has now unveiled its own design for a temporary church nearby that could be used during the painstaking restoration process.

France has announced it will expand its military space assets and defend them using systems that may include anti-satellite lasers. The Minister of the Armed Forces said the government will spend an additional €700 million to produce new surveillance satellites with self-defense capabilities.

France has launched the first of its six next-generation nuclear attack submarines in a ceremony in Cherbourg before a crowd of construction personnel and dignitaries. It is the first of the Barracuda class that will replace the French Navy's aging fleet of Rubis-class boats.

​​The Lez river in Montpellier has welcomed a striking new structure to its shores. The L'Arbre Blanc towers 17 stories over its surroundings in the southern French city, offering an abundance of apartment space on the inside and some particularly eye-catching features on the outside. ​

Vincent Callebaut Architectures recently won a competition to renovate a historic thermal baths in Aix-les-Bains, France. The proposal calls for significant sustainable design and technology, including lots of greenery, solar panels, rainwater collection, and more.

The French Ministry of Defense has launched the first of three next-generation military reconnaissance satellites. On December 19 at 6:38 pm CET (17:38 GMT), CSO-1 lifted off from the Guiana Space Center atop a Russian Soyuz rocket, sending it into a polar orbit.

Another veteran of the Cold War has bowed out after the French Air Force retired its last operational Mirage 2000N supersonic nuclear bomber. In a military ceremony, General Olivier Taprest, Major General of the Air Force marked the official end of service for the aircraft after over 30 years.

Studies have shown that caloric restriction can drastically increase the lifespan of a range of animals. On the path to determining whether humans could benefit from the same lifestyle, a 10-year study on lemurs has now found that animals on the diet lived almost 50 percent longer than usual.

France's Baluchon recently completed its latest tiny house, the Utopia. An updated take on its Escapade model, the towable dwelling measures just 6 m (19.6 ft)-long. Despite its small size, it serves as full-time home to a young couple in the Paris area.

Northern France isn't generally thought of as a tropical paradise but a section of it soon will be, courtesy of Coldefy & Associates. The French firm recently unveiled its plan to construct the world's largest single-domed tropical greenhouse in the Pas-de-Calais area.

A weapon as legendary as the dagger of King Tutankhamun needs an epic backstory, and last year X-ray analysis showed that the iron in the blade came from meteorites. Now a study has found that the artifact was far from alone as all iron tools dating back to the Bronze Age have otherworldly origins.