Location: Montpellier, France.

Architect: hoffice.

The new library in Montpellier is located within the Pierres Vives building and serves as a reading room for the Archive of the Department of Herault. The design aims to provide visitors with a comfortable and pleasant space to read, surrounded by a vast collection of books. The library comprises an entrance desk, an information desk, reading room tables, and library shelves. The different functions of the program are combined into a single object to create a new dialogue between the tables and the library, resulting in a continuous flow through the entire space. The tables bend around the back wall to form the library, with each piece referencing a letter of the alphabet. The project palette is composed of two functions, two materials, two colors, and two geometries, reflecting the duality of author and reader, and the intention and interpretation of each. The field of tables resonates with the lighting of the existing ceiling to form its “shadow,” and at night, the edge of the corian material used throughout is backlit, making the ceiling, library, and tables appear as one. Overall, the design creates a unique and inviting space for visitors to enjoy the vast collection of books in the Archive of the Department of Herault.

Photo credit: Marie-Caroline Lucat.