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The Ultimate Tree House
The Ultimate Tree House
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Tree in the sky: An apartment block unlike others, the building's balconies are
inspired by tree branches, which draw natural light and create an open atmosphere
for vegetation
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Construction on the mixed-use high-rise building is set to start in July next year,
with completion expected by December 2017
The unique 56-metre tall tower will feature 120 residential units and office space
along with a restaurant, panoramic bar and art gallery. Visitors and guests will be
welcomed to the tower by the restaurant and gallery while the penthouse bar will
offer views of the coastline and mountains.
Its design will invite vegetation on balconies to thrive due to the open atmosphere,
which is ideal for plants. Against the buildings white facade, this will create a
vertical garden with bring colour and contrast. Bringing life to the tree building,
residents will have the impression they are outside when they are indoors by
mixing the two settings.
With the outdoors an important part of life in Montpellier, the structure's balconies
draw natural light, absorbing sunshine the same way leaves
do. Gizmodo.com.au reported the building's architects were inspired by a tree's
efficient properties and the city's tradition for outdoor living, hence the name
LArbre Blanc, which translates from French to English as The White Tree.
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Standing tall at 56 metres, the building will pierce the Montpellier skyline, with a
penthouse bar offering spectacular views of the coast and nearby mountains
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Offering 120 apartments, The White Tree will offer residents the chance to pick
from various units with different floor plans due to structure's unique form
Piercing the skyline, the building will be set between Montpellier's new and old
districts, sitting halfway between newly developed districts Odysseum and Port
Marianne and the city center. From the building, residents will have easy access to
nearby the pedestrian and cycling paths.
It was announced in March that the 10,000 square metre French-designed building
will be built by Japanese architects and fittingly, the building will draw and blend
influences from both countries.
With a modular design, this allows the mixed-use building to feature many
different layouts with stunning panoramic views of a nearby mountain range and
the ocean. Design Boom reported this will allow residents to choose a floor plan
from many varying layouts and encourage free choice architecture.
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The White Tree will become Montpellier's second folly structure because if it's
extravagant form and ability to challenge the traditional notions of architecture
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A restaurant will greet people on the ground floor, while nearby pedestrian and
cycle paths will encourage residents to connect with the environment
But the project is getting attention for all the right reasons, after being dubbed the
second architectural folly of the 21st century.
Part of Montpellier's plans to build 12 new follies across the city, Architects
Journal reported that it will join the first building that won a competition to be
built. Selected last year, with construction due to start this year, the 11-storey
holiday apartment building features curved and stack levels.
An architectural folly is when a building's purpose is considered to be for aesthetic
pleasure. While the White Tree building is still functional, it's extravagant design
and ability to challenge traditional notions of architecture help qualify it as an
architectural folly.
Construction is set to start on The White Tree in July 2015 and is expected to
finished in December 2017.
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The 10,000 square metre French-designed building will be built by Japanese
architects and draw influences from both countries
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Stunning: The tower will sit between Montpellier's new and old districts, spurting
out of the ground like a giant tree with branch-like balconies in every direction
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Folly: Last April Farshid Moussavi Architecture won a competition to build the
first folly building (pictured) in Montpellier. Work is due to start on the building
this year
http://www.oxoarch.com/front/project/tour-mixte-a-montpellier :
est ainsi pense comme une forme naturelle que leau ou le vent serait venu creuser,
sculpter au fil du temps. Tel est prcisment larbre, qui adapte sa croissance son
environnement et, dans le meme temps, amliore celui-ci en lui offrant son ombre
bienfaisante.
Larbre blanc, malgr son nom, na rien dune tour divoire. Rsolument acteur dun
metabolism urbain, le btiment se veut avant tout une tour publique, accessible tous
les Montpellirains.
Le btiment redistribuera ainsi ses extrmits (rez-de-chausse et sommet,
respectivement investis par un restaurant-galerie dart et par un bar ouvrant sur un
jardin panoramique) lensemble des citoyens et des visiteurs de la mtropole. Cette
possibilit dappropriation physique fera dautant plus efficacement de la tour un objet
de fiert pour les premiers, et une curiosit touristique pour les seconds. Mais parce
que la tour ne saurait chapper ses habitants, un espace partag compltera le
bar public, permettant tous les copropritaires (quel que soit ltage de leur logement)
de profiter de lexclusivit du panorama.
Cette tour de dix-sept tages, unique dans le panorama Montpellirain, offre une
occasion exceptionnelle de profiter des vues imprenables vers la mer, le Pic Saint-Loup,
ainsi que vers la ville et le Lez en contrebas.
Larbre blanc se nourrit dune identit mditerranenne mais galement dune culture
japonaise:
des limites paisses et poreuses pour vivre dedans et dehors, une confusion entre le
salon et le balcon, des espaces extrieurs dune rare gnrosit vous devenir des
lieux de vie part entire. Une premire dans le monde, eu gard la profondeur et au
niveau dquipement de ces jardins suspendus, dune surface au moins gale la
moiti de celle des appartements et pouvant accueillir des plantes, tables, chaises,
bancs, rangements...
Dans les logements, la limite est abolie entre intrieur et extrieur: on passe de lun
lautre de faon fluide, naturelle. Les proportions des balcons soulignent cette volont
de s'tendre vers lextrieur,
comme les feuilles qui se dploient en ventail pour aller chercher la lumire ienfaisante
du soleil.
Le futur habitant se verra proposer non pas un appartement unique, mais un espace
flexible.
Chacun choisira donc un emplacement (T3 plein ouest, T2 sud-est...) et le plan qui lui
convient le
mieux parmi plusieurs possibilits damnagement.
Les architectes entendent promouvoir une architecture de la libert et du choix, qui
leurs yeux constitue le pilier du mode dhabitat de demain : un bien habiter qui
commence, pour chacun, ds lachat de son appartement, o il sagit non pas de se voir
imposer des produits calibrs, des plansstandardiss, des espaces cls-en-main, mais
de se voir offrir des potentialits, des espaces intrieurs modulables, dans un catalogue
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doptions et de plans."
Tout comme un arbre, la tour va puiser ses ressources naturelles dans son
nvironnement proche pour rduire considrablement les efforts nergtique dployer.
Elle dveloppera des strategies passives pour gnrer du confort, de lusage, une
matrise des impacts sur l'environnement et une rduction des nuisances.
Dans ce cadre, un procd la fois innovant et vernaculaire de rafraichissement passif
en t par des chemines solaires sera mis en place
Larbre blanc : plus haute folie du programme architectural montpellirain, se veut
un point culminant dans la ville. Un repre urbain qui, la nuit tombe, se fera phare ou
toile, dans la skyline de la mtropole rgionale.
Un point de vue unique sur le territoire, offert tous les habitants et les visiteurs de la
ville ; point de dpart dune arborescence visuelle, do le regard puisse la fois
embrasser le relief alentour, la grande bleue et ses rves dvasion, et toute la richesse
patrimoniale du Montpellier historique.
rig en un lieu-charnire de la cit, larbre blanc est au fond un emblme de la
Mditerrane ellemme, cette mare medi terra qui a toujours constitu un carrefour, un
point de liaison entre lEurope,
lAfrique et lAsie.
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