Montpellier City Hall, France

Jean Nouvel designed the new Hôtel de ville de Montpellier in the city’s Port Marianne. Inspiration for the unique form came from the previous town hall, the Hotel de Région, which was loosely based on the Arc de Triumph. Another city hall in 1975, the hotel Belleval, became a simple high-rise of gridded windows. The Regional Hall attempted to digitize the classic Arc de Triumph icon into a gridded modern object, and this was pushed further by Nouvel, resulting in a profound and complex structure. The surrounding site is still unfinished.

The same pragmatic integration of systems can be seen in the Caltrans L.A., but the mimicry of digital successfully steers the Montpelier to a Tretris-like world of shifting blocks. This kind of thing rarely turns out well. But this project sets a new standard for modern architecture. Subtle shifts of color from green to blue create a striking gradient, punctuated by serrated, translucent, and reflective materials. Voids of gaping spaces render a 3-dimensional maze. The lighting could have come straight out of the movie Tron, and oversized murals adorn some ceilings.

The result is a Constructivist style pushed into a new millennium, where digital methods assemble the building. Sustainability is strangely suggested in the grand urban complex, with the Lez riverside and park site integrated into the civic and residential buildings. Nature is carefully controlled and stacked into a modern hanging gardens with the city hall solemnly in the center. It rises 134 ft and was recently completed in 2011.

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(studio photos C sabinpaul. Thanks for + 2.184.280– flickr/creative commons license)

(kriss69– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)

(CD_Fr– flickr/creative commons license)
 

(featured images by jeanbaptiste maurice on flickr/creative commons)