14 DAY TRIAL // Japanese architects have taken the tree house concept to a whole new level by designing a tree apartment complex that will be located in Montpellier, France.
The futurist-looking apartment building, dubbed the White Tree, or L'Arbre Blanc, was created by Sou Fujimoto, in collaboration with French firms Nicolas Laisne Associates and Manal Rachdi Oxo architects, and has won the “Architectural Folie of the 21st Century” competition organized by the City of Montpellier.
The 17-story tower will illustrate Fujimoto's ideology that architectural constructions should reflect forms found in nature and will connect the new and old districts of the French city.
For this ambitious project, architects found inspiration in Montpellier’s tradition of indoor-outdoor living. So, the interiors of the flats will not differentiate between inside and outside areas; spaces will allow residents to move through them indistinctly.
The architectural plans show that L'Arbre Blanc will feature a curved body reminiscent of a tree trunk, and the balconies of its apartments will fan outwards like leaves seeking natural light. The terraces will branch out in different directions, and future residents will be able to choose the orientation they like the most.
“It perfectly mimics a tree reshaping itself to grow into its environment yet simultaneously enhancing it by offering much-needed shade,” the architects say, according to NY Daily News.
“Rather than an interesting flat, future residents will find a versatile space. Each resident will select a setting (west-facing three-bedroom, southeast two-bedroom, etc.) and a preferred floor plan from a list of possible layouts,” they add.
The building will include 120 apartments, a restaurant, offices, an art gallery, as well as a bar with panoramic view of the surroundings and a common area.
The plans present the 56-metre (184-foot) tall tower and the outside spaces adorned with various plant life that give the white building a unique look.
This piece of cutting-edge architecture is part of the Montpellier's “21st century Folies” architectural project that will include 12 modern buildings. It will be erected in the middle of the medieval city that has a very young population, as it is a college town.
The word “folies” refers to lavish country manors built in the 18th century and is nowadays used to describe fanciful buildings where the function is secondary.
The construction of this amazing multi-use building is set to begin in July 2015 and is expected to finish in December 2017.
Check out the photo gallery below to see how this unconventional building will look like.
