Montpellier, France
Located adjacent to the Place Royale du Peyron in Montpellier, the Espace Pitôt is a low-cost residential development that includes a hotel, law offices, and commercial frontage at the lower-grade level. The housing is essentially conceived as a perimeter block made up of a trapezoidal U-shaped element capped by a single orthogonal bar building; the two forms are unified by a cylindrical bâtiment d’angle located at the southwest corner of the site. This prominent feature houses the reception and entrance foyer to the hotel.
Due to the fact that one cannot build higher than a 49-meter datum above sea level, which is the level of the Place Royale, the entire three-story complex was dropped one complete floor below the adjacent street. This lower ground-floor level is treated as a paved plaza with an amphitheater and a steel loggia that jointly serve to animate the public area. These elements also separate this civic space from the shopping arcade that surrounds it on three sides. A prominent staircase and skylight in the plaza afford access and light to a public swimming pool in the basement.
The building is faced in coursed sandstone inside and out, providing a Mediterranean aura that is offset by the white modular brise-soleil that wraps around the interior of the court. A pine-tree cluster in the plaza and a rooftop garden on top of the perimeter block recall the formal planting of the nearby Place Royale, visible from the roof.
Espace Pitôt是位于法国蒙彼利埃的低成本住宅开发项目，由Richard Meier设计。该项目包括一家酒店、律师事务所和商业门面。住房基本上被构想成由一个梯形U形元素和一个单一的直角条形建筑组成的周界街区；这两种形式由一个位于场地西南角的圆柱形建筑统一。这个突出的特点为酒店的接待和入口大厅提供了房间。
由于不能建造比海平面高49米的建筑，这也是Place Royale的高度，整个三层建筑都下降了一个完整的楼层。这个低地面层被处理成一个铺砌广场，有一个露天剧场和一个钢制凉廊，共同用于活跃公共区域。这些元素也将这个市民空间与环绕其三面的购物商场分开。广场上的一个突出的楼梯和天窗为地下公共游泳池提供了进入和光线。
建筑内外覆盖着粗石材，提供地中海的氛围，并由白色的模块化百叶窗包裹着内部庭院。广场上的松树群和周界街区屋顶花园，回忆起附近Place Royale的正式种植，从屋顶可以看到。这个项目是一个典型的现代建筑，通过它的设计实现了低成本住宅建设和城市规划的目标。