Architecture firm Atelier du Pont’s municipal office in Les Herbiers, a remote industrial township in western France, is a multi-purpose civic building like no other. It incorporates the old city hall – a thickset 19th-century mansion – into a curvilinear, tapered form adorned with vertical louvers that keep the building cool and save energy. Instead of cutting down trees, Atelier du Pont worked around them, and the resulting building twists and turns like a vine through its parkland surroundings. This botanical approach is replicated inside, where offices are arranged in seed-pod-like clusters of collective spaces that foster collaboration.

Projects: Community of Municipalities’ Offices in Les Herbiers

Location: Les Herbiers, France

Firm: Atelier du Pont, France

Team: Anne-Cécile Comar and Philippe Croisier with Julie-Laure Anthonioz, Aline Defert, Michel Joyau, Hélène Laurin and Quentin Perchet