A ‘must-see’ of Marseille
A new housing unit system
This building is the work of the Swiss architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier. It is the first of five ‘Unité d’Habitation’ and was built between 1947 and 1952.
This vertical garden city is a set of individual apartments mounted on stilts and built as a collective structure. It was designed as a proof of concept for a new housing system. The ‘Cité radieuse’ accommodates 337 apartments of 23 different types, all of which provided comfortable and modern accommodation for the time.
A unique concept
These individual spaces benefit from ‘housing extensions’ found inside the ‘cité radieuse’, designed to stimulate a new experience of collective housing with:
Two inner shopping streets with a bookshopRuptures&Imbernon , a bar-restaurant : Le Ventre de l’Architecte, a hotel: Le Corbusier, a Design Concept Store: Le 318 , a gallery of contemporary art Le Kolektiv 313, a teahouse “l’archi Gourmand“, the Maison Mirbel (Art Design Intérieur) and an atelier boutique Seriès Bijoux.
But residents also have at their disposal on the rooftop terrace: a nursery school and a gymnasium that has become since June 2013 the MaMo (Centre for Contemporary Art) run by designer Ora-Ïto, a running track around the roof.
And there is also a 2.8-hectare park around the housing unit that is open all year round.