Pierres Vives Building, Montpellier Zaha Hadid

Pierre Vives Montpellier, Zaha Hadid Building Images, Project, Design, Herault

Pierresvives Montpellier Building by Zaha Hadid

Contemporary French Architecture, Hérault design by Zaha Hadid Architects

13 + 12 Sep 2012

Pierresvives Montpellier Building

Design: Zaha Hadid Architects

Inauguration of Zaha Hadid’s first building in France

Pierres Vives Building Montpellier Zaha Hadid Architects
photo © Hélène Binet

Montpellier, September 12th, 2012 – The Conseil Général of Hérault announces the inauguration of the first public building in France designed by Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi British architect, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2004.

Montpellier Zaha Hadid

pierresvives, the “Cité des Savoirs et des Sports pour tous” will be inaugurated on Thursday September 13th, in the presence of André Vezinhet, President of Conseil Général of Herault, and Zaha Hadid.

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photos © Hélène Binet

Situated in Montpellier, pierresvives building embodies a distinctly contemporary vision of culture and accessibilty.

For the Département of Hérault, whose capital, Montpellier, has recently been named one of the New York Times’ “Best Places to visit in 2012”, the commissioner and the architect have planned to concentrate three civic institutions in a single location: the public archives, a multimedia library and Hérault Sport.

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photos © Hélène Binet

Following the call for submissions launched by Département of Hérault in 2002, Zaha Hadid understood at once the specific requirements of the endeavour, and her submission was quickly singled out. Her futuristic structure, a sprawling edifice of swirly white concrete layers and green-tinted glass, takes on the architectural challenge of accommodating an ever-increasing public whilst ensuring the conservation of valuable historical archives.

Montpellier is France’s eighth-largest and most dynamic city, more specifically in terms of new technologies and the pharmacy industry.

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photos © Hélène Binet

Pierresvives has been conceived as an innovative cultural offer, to meet the needs of the area’s significant economic growth and increasing population of over 1,000 inhabitants per month. The total population of the Départment de l’Hérault has stood at 1 million since 2006.

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photos © Hélène Binet

Prominent attendees of the inauguration include Leïla Shahid, General Delegate of Palestine to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg,to whom Zaha Hadid was first introduced in Montpellier, by André Vézinhet, president of the Conseil Général of Hérault.

Pierres Vives Montpellier Building images / information received 120912

Pierrevives Montpellier, France – new photos + building news – 13 Sep 2012
Zaha Hadid Architects
Pierres Vives Building
photo : Iwan Baan
“If I named this building after a quote from one of the greatest authors of Humanism, it is because public investment is not only a response to the needs of the moment, in this instance re-housing the archives and multimedia library of Hérault, but also a vision for the future of public service and urban planning.”

pierresvives Montpellier : Technical Information re this Zaha Hadid building

30 Aug + 7 Jun 2012

Pierresvives Montpellier

Design: Zaha Hadid Architects

Inauguration of Zaha Hadid’s innovative new building on September 13th, 2012

The first illumination of the building will be at 10pm.

Priztker Prize winner in 2004, the architect Zaha Hadid, and André Vezinhet, Head of the French Département of Hérault, will inaugurate on September 13th 2012 a remarkable new building: pierrevives.

Pierresvives Montpellier Pierresvives Montpellier Pierres Vives Montpellier Building
photo © Hélène Binet

Pierresvives is situated in Montpellier, France’s eighth-largest and most dynamic city. It has been conceived as an innovative cultural offer, to meet the needs of the area’s significant economic growth and increasing population of over 1,000 inhabitants per month.

Pierres Vives Building Pierres Vives Building Montpellier

Pierresvives building thus embodies a distinctly contemporary vision of culture and public access, actively contributing to the area’s growing reputation as a paradise for contemporary architecture. Hadid’s building will be the cornerstone of the pierresvives ecodistrict whose construction will take place over the coming years.

Pierres Vives Montpellier Pierres Vives Building Montpellier

With this inauguration, pierresvives becomes the third project built by the now internationally acclaimed Anglo-Iraqi architect in France, after the car park and Terminus Hœnheim-North in Strasbourg and the CMA/CGM Tower in Marseille.

Pierres Vives Montpellier Building images / information received 070612

2 Oct 2006

Pierres Vives Building Montpellier

Design: Zaha Hadid Architects

The ‘’Pierres Vives building’’of the Department of Herault in Montpellier, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects is due to start on site at the end of this year.

Pierres Vives Building Montpellier Pierres Vives Building Montpellier

The building is a unique combination of three civic institutions – the archives, the library and the sports department – within a single envelope.

Given the contained programs, the spectacular design is inspired by the idea of a ‘tree of knowledge’ as an organizational diagram. The archive is located at the solid base of the trunk, followed by the slightly more porous library, with the sports department and its offices on top where the trunk bifurcates and becomes much lighter.

These various parts of this “cite administrative” share several functions at the heart of the building, with auditorium and meeting rooms combining in a huge cantilever canopy above the main entrance. The branches projecting off the main trunk on ground floor, articulate the entrances into the various institutions. All the public entrances are located on the western side of the building; whilst the service entrances for staff and loading bays are on the eastern side. In this way the tree-trunk analogy is exploited to organise and articulate the complexity of the overall “cite administrative”.

Pierres Vives Building Montpellier Pierres Vives Building Montpellier

Zaha Hadid consistently pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design. Her work experiments with new spatial concepts ranging widely from urban master planning to products, interiors, and furniture.

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She is best known for her seminal built works – the Vitra Fire Station in Weil-am-Rhein, Germany (1993); the Hoenheim Nord Terminus in Strasbourg, France (2001); the Bergisel Ski Jump in Innsbruck, Austria (2002); the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, USA (2003); the BMW Central Building in Leipzig, Germany; the Hotel Puerta America interiors in Madrid, Spain; the Ordrupgaard Museum extension in Copenhagen and the Phaeno Science Centre in Germany (all 2005).

Zaha Hadid Building Montpellier Zaha Hadid Pierres Vives Building

Pierres Vives – Building Information

Client: Département de l’Hérault
Client representative: Hérault Aménagement
Architectural design: Zaha Hadid Architects
Project architect: Stephane Hof

Pierres Vives Building images / information from Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid

Location: Montpellier, France

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In 2004 Zaha Hadid won the prestigious Pritzker Prize for Architecture

Key Recent Project designed by Zaha Hadid Architects

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Zaha Hadid Architects

Comments / photos for the Montpellier ArchitecturePierresvives Zaha Hadid page welcome