PROJECT SHOWCASE

Higher Roch
Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés
France

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The team

The project

The design intent

The formula for freedom

Visual Collaboration

Sustainability as a service

The team

Trailblazing the use of Archicad in France

The architects at Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés are true power users. Working with the Graphisoft suite since 1990, the team has become both a trailblazer and an inspiration for new Archicad users in France. Their projects all share a design approach inspired by the forest fox and range from residential to commercial. Like the curious animal, the designers draw on a wide variety of experiences to develop concepts, and refrain from reducing the world to a single idea. Semper in motu, the team’s work achieves modernity by continuously thinking forward.

Project Name: Higher Roch Tower
Project Location: Montpellier, France
Firm Name: Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés
Project Type: Office, Social Housing
Project Size: 12 600 ㎡
Completion Date: 2022
Software used: Graphisoft Archicad, Graphisoft BIMcloud, Graphisoft BIMx, Rhino-Grasshopper

We had a vision of a very free design, and the Rhino-Grasshopper-Archicad toolset let us find feasible and real solutions to bring it to life.
Guillaume Maréchaux
Architect, Associate, Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés, Photo: Maurizio Pighizzini

The project

The Mediterranean Tower 

In 2015, one of their concept submissions won a competition to build a residential tower in Montpellier, France. Inspired in part by the whimsical waves of the Mediterranean Sea and the ruffles on a flamenco dancer’s dress, the Higher Roch Tower’s characteristic fringe of wavy terraces reflected the surrounding natural environment and culture. In a bid to make space for ‘living inside out’ at least 50% of each apartment’s floor area is “covered” by the region’s open blue skies.

The design intent

Living inside out and building in budget

Located in a city world famous for its bright days, the tower’s design makes extensive use of the abundant natural light. The generous decks, made to look as if drawn freehand, captured the freedom of living under the open sky. Meanwhile, the budget remained very much down to earth. Working with facade design consultants VSA, well versed in Rhino and Grasshopper, the designers used an innovative approach to find an acceptable intersection between design and budget.

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The formula for freedom

From parametric points to Archicad objects 

The terrace curves adapt to the height and orientation of their placement, helping the tower’s residents embrace the advantages of the environment. A live connection between Rhino-Grasshopper and Archicad helped optimize the parametric designs. With it, the team was able to transform the parametric building blocks of the terraces into scripts that could be connected to Archicad objects. By translating the parametric capabilities of each point into the Archicad model, stakeholders could experiment with different parameters and instantly view its result on the generated shape.

The Rhino – Grasshopper – Archicad Toolset

Design Collaboration with Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés 

Register here to watch the architects of Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés present the entire building design process of Higher Roch. 

The Rhino-Grasshopper-Archicad toolset allows us to vary parameters and quickly assess their impact on our design.
Jean-Pierre Lévêque
Architect, Associate, Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés, Photo: Maurizio Pighizzini

Visual collaboration

Creativity in dialog with clients

The precise modeling of the project allowed the team to design accurately, reassuring their clients and ultimately allowing a high degree of freedom. Exploring alternatives collaboratively led to an imaginative exchange between all stakeholders. The design process became a delightful exchange centered around immersive visualizations.

Design Options in Archicad

The plasticity offered by Archicad combined with the possibility of precise quantity take-offs reassures our customers about feasibility while giving us true freedom in our design thinking.
Emmanuel Person
Architect, Associate, Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés, Photo: Maurizio Pighizzini

Sustainability as a service

Shining a light on new capabilities

The extension of each software’s powerful functionalities uncovered new horizons for the architecture firm. Generating complex forms resulted in organic forms that could maximize the natural benefits of the surrounding area. In addition, the ability to immediately calculate the sun and shadow fall in Archicad allowed the client to optimize for seasonal differences, such as the winter solstice, and gave the team an impressive edge.

Sun Study in Archicad