Pierres vives translates from the French as “living stones”. It is a quote from Rabelais (“Je ne bâtis que pierres vives, ce sont hommes” — “I build only living stones, men”) and is the name of a public building in Montpellier by Zaha Hadid Architects. You’d look hard for a better metaphor for Hadid’s work here: her office has designed an inhabited, multi-functional monolith.
