Pierresvives is a public building in Montpellier, France, that holds three institutions in one: the departmental archive, the library and the sports department. Zaha Hadid Architects designed it, for the Département de l'Hérault. The work ran from 2002 to 2012, and Vinci Construction was the general contractor.
The three institutions share one envelope, with a single identity from afar and a visible division up close. The massing is described as a horizontal tree trunk. The archive forms the solid base, the library comes next, and the sports department sits at the lighter end where the trunk forks. Vertical branches mark each entrance.
Public functions sit at the front, joined by a linear lobby. A central auditorium and meeting rooms form the core of a large canopy that cantilevers over the entrance. The site covers 35,000 square meters (about 377,000 square feet), and Arup handled the structure.
This building has no Wikipedia article. Facts come from Zaha Hadid Architects, Archiweb.
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