
Photograph by Hélène Binet
Set Two
Montpellier, France
2002 - 2012
Département de l'Hérault, Le President Andre Vezhinet
Pierresvives Archive & Library


Photograph by Iwan Baan
The Pierresvives building for the department de l’Herault is the unification of three institutions - the archive, the library and the sports department - within a single envelope. These various parts combine to create a building with a strong single identity when viewed at a distance, but as one moves closer, the division into three parts becomes apparent. The building has been developed using functional and economic logic: the resultant design reminiscent of a large tree-trunk that has been laid horizontally. The archive is located at the solid base of the trunk, followed by the slightly more porous library with the sports department and its well-lit offices on far end where the trunk bifurcates and becomes much lighter. ‘Branches’ project vertically off the main trunk to articulate points of access to the various institutions.
This longitudinal division of serviced and servicing spaces is maintained along the full length of Pierresvives. The front of the building contains all the public functions of each institution, linked by a linear lobby with an exhibition space in the centre. Above this connective ground level, the three institutions remain strictly separated, each with its own core for internal vertical circulation.

Photograph by Iwan Baan

Photograph by Hélène Binet
Set Two

Photograph by Iwan Baan

Photograph by Hélène Binet
Set Two
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On arrival at the main entrance, visitors are directed from the lobby to the educational spaces of the archives on ground level; or via lifts and escalator to the main public artery on level one. This artery is articulated all along the facades as a recessed glass strip, with the reading rooms of the archive and library immediately accessible. Central in this artery and therefore located at the heart of the building, are the main public facilities shared between the three institutions: the auditorium and meeting rooms. These important public spaces form the primary central volume of the grand cantilevering canopy above the entrance.
Civic
From Beijing’s largest and most advanced convention and exhibition centre to a public plaza that unites the historically divided city of Nicosia, discover our latest civic projects.

Render by X-Universe
Located in the heart of Taipei’s Beimen district—the city’s financial hub—NICFC will house four institutions of the Financial Supervisory Commission that include the stock exchange, futures exchange, depository & clearing corporation.

A series of new landscaped parklands, terraces and gardens along the Zhedong Canal within the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou

Render by X Universe
The international competition to design Malpensa Hospital (Grande Ospedale della Malpensa) has been awarded to ZHA in partnership with RINA (team leader), Studio Plicchi, WSP, STI Engineering and BC Building Consulting.

Photograph by Virgile Simon Bertrand
As the cultural, academic and civic centre of China, Beijing has also developed into one of the world’s centres of communication and scientific research.

Photograph by ©K.Arkatites
Establishing Eleftheria Square as the city’s primary gathering space, ZHA design creates new connections intended to unite a divided capital. Nicosia’s massive Venetian fortifications separate the old city from its modern districts, while the city’s ‘Green Line’ divides the capital into two disparate communities.

Photograph by Werner Huthmacher
Domestic in scale but unique in execution, Maggie’s Fife Cancer Centre is set on the edge of a hollow adjacent to Victoria Hospital: a distinctive protected environment providing a haven for cancer patients. Designed to create a transition between the natural and the man-made, it forms a gateway to the surrounding landscape.

Photograph by Hélène Binet
The project is designed to serve as an event and exhibition space for the garden festival in Weil am Rhein 1999. The suggested structure does not sit in the landscape as an isolated object, but emerges from the fluid geometry of the surrounding network of paths.

Photograph by ©Christian Richters/VIEW
Conceived as the end-note to existing factory buildings, the Vitra Fire Station defines rather than occupies space – emerging as a linear, layered series of walls, between which program elements are contained – a representation of ‘movement frozen’ – an ‘alert’ structure, ready to explode into action at any moment.

Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Legacy Mode : December 2013
A concept inspired by the fluid geometry of water in motion, creating spaces and a surrounding environment in sympathy with the river landscape of the Olympic Park. An undulating roof sweeps up from the ground as a wave, enclosing the pools of the Centre with its unifying gesture.

Photograph by Virgile Simon Bertrand
The DDP has been designed as a cultural hub at the centre of one of the busiest and most historic districts of the city. It is a place for people of all ages; a catalyst for the instigation and exchange of ideas and a place for new technologies and media to be explored - presenting an ever-changing menu of exhibitions and events that feeds the cultural vitality of the city.

Photograph by Piet Niemann
Located at Niederhafen on the Elbe River between St. Pauli Landungsbrücken and Baumwall in Hamburg, the upgraded 625m river promenade is integral to the modernisation and reinforcement of the city’s flood protection system.

Photograph by Hufton + Crow
The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre harnessed the energy of the 2014 Youth Olympic Games to create a project with a lasting legacy that has enhanced and also regenerated its setting; acting as both an anchor and a catalyst for future investment in Nanjing’s Hexi New Town.

Courtesy of ZHA
Rising from the sloping banks of the Tigris River in Baghdad, the design for the new headquarters of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) conveys the core values at the heart of the institution: Solidity, Stability and Sustainability.

Photograph by Heiko Stahl
Messehalle 3A
NürnbergMesse is one of the world’s largest exhibition companies with a portfolio of over 120 national and international exhibitions and congresses that include 35,000 exhibitors and 1.5 million visitors who attend in their own, partner and guest events of the NürnbergMesse Group.
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