Student residence Triolet II, Montpellier

Making something extraordinary out of the ordinary? The location of the Triollet University Campus plays with an urbanism of objects, buildings that are each independent from one another. The ambition of building new university halls of residence has to be done with a view of unification that is as physical as psychological, so that students who share these rooms become part of a common whole. The challenge of this project goes beyond the mere matter of students’ rooms in order to address the notion of a contextual campus. Reinventing the ‘cell’ makes no sense today. What a student wants is a computer and an immediate connection to the world. Creating the ideal conditions for sharing and socialising is much more important than the design. An ‘ideal’ room is not the best possible solution for shaping young citizens to be curious, inventive and altruistic. The ideal is not found in a room; it is outside. A student residence has to be a place open to each individual’s interpretation and ownership. By placing human relations at the centre of the equation ideas and knowledge can circulate better, allowing people to interact and mix. What makes this project unique is its balance between functionality, a quest for spatial performance, the consideration of shared territory and, at the same time, plenty of contrasts.