Fujimoto's L'Arbre Blanc building in Montpellier, France
The "White Tree" residential complex project by the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto Architects and two famous French architectural bureaus, Nicolas Laisné Associés and DREAM and Manal Rachdi Oxo Architectes, has won the 21st Century Architectural Folie competition. : The aim of the competition is to support the most environmentally sustainable ideas. The cost of the building project, called "L'Arbre Blanc" ("The White Tree"), was about 22 million euros.
The 17-storey L'Arbre Blanc tower with a total of 11,900 m² is located between the city center and the new, actively developing areas of Port Mariana and Odyssey. In addition to the actual apartments, there are office spaces, an art gallery and a restaurant located on the ground floor, and a public bar on the roof with beautiful panoramic views of the city, river and mountains.
The flattened building, like a mighty trunk "growing" from the ground, shows the Japanese tendency towards organic architecture. Numerous highly protruding and impressively sized "leafy" balconies become a natural continuation of the residential and public spaces and demonstrate the smoothing of the boundaries between exterior and interior space typical of Mediterranean architecture. And planned fragments of vertical greenery further enhance this effect. The building's universal white color becomes a unifying element in this context, cementing this unexpected symbiosis of two very different traditions.
The architects are sure that such balconies will protect the facade of the building from the sun. The apartments range in size from 7 m² to 35 m² with several layout options. Owners of duplex apartments can move from one balcony to another. The tower uses solar energy to power the ventilation system. The building is also equipped with a modern rainwater collection and use system.