The Antigone project dates
back to 1979, when the newly-elected municipal council of Montpellier
decided to undertake vast urban development on some twenty hectares of
land near the city centre. The purpose of this town-planning operation
was to develop a new district which would provide for the city’s
balanced eastward expansion and link the historical centre to the river
Lez. Ricardo Bofill’s Taller de Arquitectura drew up the master plan
that has breathed stylistic unity into a district of streets and
squares, green zones, housing facilities, shops, schools and sports,
cultural and administrative facilities.