Thought a process of dialogue with the city of Montpellier, the equipment company of the Montpelliéraine region, Jean Nouvel, chief architect of the ZAC and promoter Pragma, the housing building “I Park” facing the new town hall of Montpellier, is a building of eight levels in variable layers.
© Paul Kozlowski
Thought like a stratified and faceted monolith, the project constitutes an urban built front in its dividing line with the street. Adjoining the project site, a public park in continuity of Lez will offer unobstructed views of the river and its banks to housing. A landscape band allows a distance between public and private spaces.
© Paul Kozlowski
The base of the project is treated with stamped concrete while the body of the project consists of a unified facade. A double skin allows adaptability to each orientation, in connection with the direct / projected environment. A specific composition was thought for the urban facade. It is a sequence of three buildings interacting with each other and thus forming an animated entity. The facades facing the park and the Lez have the challenge of offering the vision of a park turning on the frame, integrating and absorbing perfectly the construction in its environment. A game between vegetated facades and reflecting facades projecting the plant in the urban fabric is thus set up.
© Paul Kozlowski
This project draws its specificity from a strong desire for research and experimentation on living conditions in a Mediterranean climate. The vegetated facades are the subject of an upstream research allowing us to work directly with specialists as well as the realization of prototypes.
Project Info
Architects: NBJ Architectes
Area: 4000 m²
Year: 2019
Country: Montpellier, France
Photographs:Paul Kozlowski
Lead Architects: Elodie Nourrigat & Jacques Brion
Client: Pragma Partenaire
Bet Structure: CALDER
Bet Fluide Thermique: DURAND
BC: APAVE
Structure Consultants: Calder Ingénierie
Thermical Fluids Consultant: DURAND
