Four teams, including architects, landscape designers and urban planners, have been shortlisted for a renovation of Paris's iconic Eiffel Tower, part of a $320 million, multi-year effort.

The project – called Grand Site Tour Eiffel: Discover, Approach, Visit – will see the teams revise the approach to the 324-meter tower, rethink access to its elevators and make improvements to reception and work spaces inside the structure.

Under the title "Discover, Approach, Visit," the design work will cover the 54 hectare (133 acre) site between the Trocadero and the Military Academy, and along the Seine river embankments between Bir-Hakeim and Alma Bridges. The Eiffel Tower is located at the center of this site.

The four finalists for the design competition, one of whom will be chosen early in 2019, include:

  • Amanda Levete's London-based firm AL_A, landscape architect Gross Max and urban design expert Ricky Burdett.
  • British firm Gustafson Porter + Bowman, including architects Chartier and Corbasson, Atelier Monchecourt & Co. and urban planners Sathy and Devillers & Associés Agency.
  • French studio KOZ Architects, with architects Junya Ishigami and Niclas Dünnebacke.
  • French landscape architects Agence Ter which includes architects Carlo Ratti and Explorations Architecture.

"Currently, the configuration of the places and their layout do not always guide and welcome visitors in satisfactory conditions. Pathways are often complex and queues sometimes messy," according to a statement by the organizer, the city of Paris.

Winner of the competition will be announced in early 2019, with work expected to complete by 2023, the year before Paris hosts the Olympic Games.

Built 128 years ago as a temporary structure for the 1889 Universal Exhibition in Paris, the tower has since grown into a global icon, attracting nearly seven million visitors per year.

The current project will encompass a full structural analysis, replacement of the tower’s lighting systems and an overhaul of its elevators, which still use some of Eiffel’s original workings. Additional improvements will include a modernization of security technology and an enhanced visitor queue to reduce wait times and shelter tourists from harsh weather conditions.

Major renovation to the tower last took place in 2014, when the first floor reopened following two years of work. Before that, the last large-scale renovation occurred in 1986. The project proposal is expected to be presented to the Paris council for approval at the end of January 2019.