Marc Mimram designs "delicate pleated roof" for Montpellier's new TGV station
News: French architect Marc Mimram has been selected to create a new train station in Montpellier – a building that will bridge over the railway line and feature an intricate pleated roof (+ slideshow).
Marc Mimram's Paris-based architecture and engineering firm will create the 3,500-square-metre station for TGV, France's high-speed rail network, in the Odysséum district that sits between the city centre and the airport.
![Marc Mimram appointed to design Montpellier’s new TGV station](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/TGV_station_by_Marc_Mimram_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
It will create a fast link to the nearby city of Nîmes, and will also connect with the existing Perpignan-to-Barcelona line to reduce journey times between the Spanish city and Paris.
The building is conceived as a "garden station", with a fibre-reinforced concrete roof shaped into five eight-metre-wide domes. Each of these domes will feature rows of pleats designed to throw dappled shadows across the station concourse.
![Marc Mimram appointed to design Montpellier’s new TGV station](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/TGV_station_by_Marc_Mimram_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
According to the architect, the varying light and shadow will make travellers aware of the changing climate and seasons outside.
"We want to create a garden station, a station of the senses that delights travellers and allows them to engage with the beauty of their surroundings," said Mimram, describing the setting as "beautiful".
![Marc Mimram appointed to design Montpellier’s new TGV station](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/TGV_station_by_Marc_Mimram_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
The architect, whose buildings include a recent addition to Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture, continued: "Our design addresses the emotions of meeting, waiting and departing and creates a bright and airy space that, even in the short time a person might spend in the station, will engage them with the nature of Montpellier."
Fibre-reinforced concrete beams and slender steel columns will support the roof, with spans across the entire width of the bridge-like station.
![Marc Mimram appointed to design Montpellier’s new TGV station](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/TGV_station_by_Marc_Mimram_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
The public concourse will be located on the first floor and passengers will descend to the lower level to board trains. A tram will serve the station from the city centre, arriving at a sheltered area in front of the station's first-floor entrance.
Mimram will work with local architect Emmanuel Nebout, contractor EGIS and developer Icade to deliver the €142.7 million project.
Construction works will begin early next year, and the team will be responsible for the maintenance and operation of the station for a 15-year-period.