A+Agency is located at the heart of a nature conservation area in Montpellier (South of France) also hosting a large park, its historic farmhouse being rehabilitated in a restaurant and guest rooms, also comprising a real estate development with 75 apartments spread into several small buildings.
An integrated architecture within its sensitive environment
- A parallelepiped construction which arise on the location of a demolished ancient warehouse and a vintage orangery that has been displaced stone by stone to the far end of the property, of which the last level fades out in order to cope with the farmhouse’s volumetry.
- Facades are made of white concrete to match the farmhouse’s traditional color.
- Southern and western facades are fully glazed and protected by a white ceramic mesh which mimics the vegetation that totally covers the historical building.
- The windows to the north and the southern mesh openings matching in proportion recall those of the mas.
- Discovered during construction works, a well with exceptional dimensions has been highlighted by the two arches of the emergency staircase ascending from the car park located in the basement.
A functional architecture to welcome the employees of the A + group
- 6 half-levels federated around a twin central staircase to avoid 3 plain levels that would have split the agency into 3 truly separate spaces.
- A specific space arrangement to facilitate streamline traffic flows and multidisciplinary exchanges and to create more proximity between the various working units.
A minimalist architecture by choice
- Expressive materials with omnipresent gray concrete in the inside.
- No inside beam.
- Fluids plus strong and weak currents naturally omnipresent but so discreet that they completely disappear.
- Reduced interior lining at the north facade, technical and sanitary zone located at the eastern gable.
- No facing ceiling to let the gray concrete slabs exposed.
- A concrete color carpet, necessary to improve acoustics.
Credits:
- A+Architecture - associate - Philippe Bonon