Treehugger and other publications such as GREENROOFS.COM recently reported that Montparnasse in the south of Paris has a new mixed-use project designed by French-Brazilian firm Triptyque Architecture: Villa M. It includes a hotel, coworking space, and a “dynamic healthcare-focused center.” For the project Triptyque won the Building of the Year 2022 award from ArchDaily.
According to GREENROOFS.com, the hotel’s 67 rooms and six suites each bear the first name of a woman or man who has marked the history of medicine or science.
The building is dramatically covered in plants. “We designed Villa M as a naturalist architectural manifesto: that is, a building of a new era, where man is no longer opposed to nature and the living,” said Olivier Raffaëlli and Guillaume Sibaud, the Triptyque Architecture designers of Villa M, in a statement.
The firm noted in the press release how the building was designed as an exoskeleton: “Its architecture stands out with its living building, whose geometry is formed by metallic structure beams, conceived to house medicinal herbal plants, fruit trees, and medium to large-sized perennial species. Designed as an exoskeleton, the building has a minimalist, light look, composed by prefabricated pieces as in a building game.”
Plant Will Become Main Architecture
According to Raffaelli, the plants are slated to be the main feature. “The edifice itself is the support for this vertical garden, which will grow and occupy the entire façade, turning the building into a vertical, medicinal forest, and becoming the main architecture.”
On their website, the architects wrote, “Composed of a minimal, airy and light structure, Villa M is the support of a vertical garden. This structure functions as a giant wire mesh echoing the Parisian architecture developed in the early 19th century.”
“We have explored all of the available surfaces to potentialize the greenery and to avoid energy and carbon waste,” explained Sibaud.
From the inside, the views are framed by the plants.
Adds GREENROOFS.COM: “Cleverly arranged in a Botanical Table ordered by plant type and varying heights, a total of 93 species have been planted. Trees on the RoofTop terrace include Pear, Sweet Cherry, Bird Cherry (European Cherry), and Apple. The verdant soil-based green wall designed by Triptyque + Starck boasts two types of ferns and 65 different species of medicinal herbs, perennials, and herbaceous plants.”
