Mixed-use developments aren't anything new, but head-turning versions are relatively few and far between. And while the gold standard still tends to be the groundbreaking People's Park Complex in Singapore, La Mantilla in Montpellier comes pretty close to taking poll position.
It helps that the capital city of the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south of France is in the midst of an ambitious urban overhaul project. And by the looks of things, a lot of the action is taking place around La Mantilla itself – Jean Nouvel's behemoth City Hall is nearby, while Phillipe Starck's bubble-wrapped sports complex is just across the road.
The brief to Paris-based practice Jacques Ferrier Architecture was to design a 'super plot' with several very different programmes: large public parking, commercial ground floor, a student residence, office, social housing, and a residential building. The project presented several challenges, not least of which five independent developers were involved.
The overriding concern was to unify the different parts with a singular visual identity. The problem was solved in two ways. The first was to cluster the buildings of varying low heights and complex geometric façades around an interior garden that would be accessible to all residents of the complex.
The second was to wrap all the façades in a dazzling white, filigreed screen that recalls fine lace and mediterranean traditions - hence the project's moniker. The use of the lace pattern as the unifying theme, says Jacques Ferrier, 'covers a large urban operation under the same skin element, with different types of uses and volumes. It aims to smoothen the impact of the complex on the neighborhood. At the same time, it creates a set of filters and shades that shapes the identity of the complex.'
More subtly, the screen serves an eco-function by providing shade from Montpellier's hot sun, and natural thermal warmth in winter, whilst a hanging garden draped with green vines cools the air in summer.
The program needed to combine public parking, a commercial ground floor, a student residence, office, social housing and a private residential building
Five different developers were involved, yet still the different buildings needed to have a similar visual indentity and sit together harmoniously
In order to achieve this, the project was wrapped in a dazzling white, filigreed screen that recalls fine lace and Mediterranean traditions
This reference also helped give the project
INFORMATION
For more information visit Jacques Ferrier’s website
-
Stay in a Parisian apartment which artfully balances minimalism and warmthTour this pied-a-terre in the 7th arrondissement, designed by Valeriane Lazard
-
Marta Pan and André Wogenscky's legacy is alive through their modernist home in FranceFondation Marta Pan – André Wogenscky: how a creative couple’s sculptural masterpiece in France keeps its authors’ legacy alive
-
Paris’ architecturally fascinating Villejuif-Gustave Roussy metro station is now openVillejuif-Gustave Roussy is part of the new Grand Paris Express, a transport network that will raise the architectural profile of the Paris suburbs
-
Explore wood architecture, Paris' new timber tower and how to make sustainable construction look ‘iconic’A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreatThis overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
-
La Grande Motte: touring the 20th-century modernist dream of a French paradise resortLa Grande Motte and its utopian modernist dreams, as seen through the lens of photographers Laurent Kronental and Charly Broyez, who spectacularly captured the 20th-century resort community in the south of France
-
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain unveils plans for new Jean Nouvel buildingFondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has plans for a new building in Paris, working with architect Jean Nouvel
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French RivieraTempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
