Architectural Record – August 2019

The sighT of a bushy, white, curvilinear 17­story tower

in the city of Montpellier, France, could stop you in your

tracks. And this is before you notice that the balconies of

this mostly residential building extend out like branches

of a thickly foliated tree, almost defying gravity. Aptly

called L’Arbre Blanc (White Tree), the recent addition to

the city of 278,000, close to the Mediterranean, makes a

dramatic gesture to the region’s sunny climate. Here 113

luxury apartments, contained in the “trunk,” open onto

balconies that cantilever as much as 25 feet.

The organic design was conceived by a team led by

Tokyo architect Sou Fujimoto, working with three Paris­

based architects: Manal Rachdi of OXO Architects;

Nicolas Laisné, and Laisné’s former partner Dimitri

Roussel. The project is the second result of a series of

competitions started by Montpellier in 2013, called the

Folies Richter, to bring more experimental architecture

to the city. (The first winner, a nine­story apartment

block, La Folie Divine, was designed by London­based

architect Farshid Moussavi, and opened in 2017.)

Montpellier officials hope to commission a dozen such

more “folies” in the future that will join a variegated

OUTDOOR LIFE

The apartment tower’s

balconies cantilever up to

25 feet from the shaft

(opposite). L'Arbre Blanc

sits across the Lez River

from the semicircular

mixed-use complex,

Antigone, designed by

Ricardo Bofill (2000).

(^42) ARCHITECTURAL RECORD AUGUST 2019 CLOSE-UP
In Full Bloom
Sou Fujimoto branches out with a residential high-rise
in the South of France.
BY SUZANNNE STEPHENS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY IWAN BAAN