File:Les plans de l'exposition; Projets primés en seconde ligne.jpg

The French government initiated several architectural competitions for the buildings of the exhibition. After Eiffel's Tower project was accepted, another competition was launched in 1886 for the buildings surrounding it. This series of prints represents three proposals for integrating the tower into the general plan of the galleries. Although these were not selected, they were quite original in the way they considered the location of the tower in relation to the exhibit halls. In Raulin's project (on the top right corner) the tower is inside the iron structure of the halls, and the galleries' impressive height matches that of the first platform of Eiffel's building, which stood 57 meters (about 190 feet) above the ground. Nachon's project (on the top left corner) worked on the same principle, and also had the halls enclose Eiffel's structure, but they were not as high as Raulin's, and thus were dwarfed by the tower. Finally, Perthe's project had the tower moved to the Seine River, and placed its four pillars on each side of a bridge. This project was quickly ruled out: it became clear that it was not technically feasible, due to the tower's weight and the lack of stability of the ground on the banks.