Student residence Triolet II

Montpellier

Making something extraordinary out of the ordinary? 

The location of the Triollet University Campus plays with an urbanism of objects, buildings that are each independent from one another. The ambition of building new university halls of residence has to be done with a view of unification that is as physical as psychological, so that students who share these rooms become part of a common whole. 

The challenge of this project goes beyond the mere matter of students’ rooms in order to address the notion of a contextual campus. Reinventing the ‘cell’ makes no sense today. What a student wants is a computer and an immediate connection to the world. Creating the ideal conditions for sharing and socialising is much more important than the design. An ‘ideal’ room is not the best possible solution for shaping young citizens to be curious, inventive and altruistic.

The ideal is not found in a room; it is outside. A student residence has to be a place open to each individual’s interpretation and ownership. By placing human relations at the centre of the equation ideas and knowledge can circulate better, allowing people to interact and mix. What makes this project unique is its balance between functionality, a quest for spatial performance, the consideration of shared territory and, at the same time, plenty of contrasts.

Artists has installed art in the hall and on the facades of the building. This intervention has been led by the street art association Line Up for the Crous of Montpellier – Occitanie. The artist Zest and Monsieur BMX have integrated their artistic installations into the student residence. Zest operated in the hall and designed an immersing work composed of chromatic sequences which make full use of the building’s architecture and its concrete interior.

As for Monsieur BMX, he embedded a used BMX bike in the concrete outline of cornice which seems to either ram against the facade or emerge from it.

Program
315 315 student housing units + student services + offices

Location
Résidence Universitaire Triolet II, Montpellier

Calendar
Completion in 2017

Sponsor
SA HLM Nouveau Logis Méridional

Maîtrise d'œuvre
Architecture team : Lead architect: Hamonic+Masson & Associés. Project manager: Cesar Silva Urdaneta.
Photographer : Takuji Shimmura.
All trades engineering office : BETOM
Environmental consultancy : Cap Terre
Artistic contribution : Association LineUp - Zest - Monsieur BMX
Cost : NC.
Surface : 9000 m² .

Team
Cesar Silva Urdaneta