La Ciotat - Media library project

Despite the wealth of its holdings, the current library is not large enough with its 270 m2 (+ 100 m of offices) to be able to accommodate satisfactorily the public of this city of more than 30,000 inhabitants. To develop public reading, reach new audiences and offer users more pleasant spaces and richer funds, the municipality has developed a new media library project in association with the library team. This future media library is destined to become a space of social and cultural life central to the territory. It is part of a larger programme of cultural routes through the city, completed by the construction of a new performance hall.

The future media library will be located in the Saint-Jacques district, which is the subject of a redevelopment and rehabilitation plan.

The project finally adopted consists in rehabilitating two buildings: the former Hospice Saint-Jacques and the former theatre a few tens of meters apart and connected by the pedestrian street of the Ancien Hôpital. The mineral and vegetable square in front of the hospice will form another symbolic link. At the back of the hospice, a garden will allow to deploy outdoor animations. If the surroundings are not an integral part of the project, the location of the site will contribute to its attractiveness. The collections will be distributed according to a thoughtful distribution between these two buildings. A large place will be given to the image which will have a dedicated space as well as to the digital.

The former hospice, whose rehabilitation is the first phase of the works, is a building built in the early 17th century. Used as a hospital until 1972, it remains today only the main body, on two levels. The public will find, in addition to a reception hall, adult and youth fiction areas, an early childhood area, as well as an "image and sound" area with specific funds on cinema. Digital and multimedia resources will be deployed throughout these spaces according to a thematic distribution.

In the former theatre will be located on three levels documentaries, a reading room and spaces for cultural action (auditorium and workshop).

The rehabilitation work, already started, should resume and be completed in September 2013 for the first part (hospice), and in 2015 for the second part (former theatre).

Architects : Martine Bresson and Corrado De Guili Morghen (Marseille)
Localization : former Hospice Saint-Jacques and former theatre
Size of media library : 1774 m2 of useful area
Cost of construction €3,541,663.59 (excl. tax)
State aid €1,239,583 (excl. tax)
Dates : planned opening in September 2013 for the hospice, in 2015 for the theatre

• Sheet made by Odile Chatirichvili, trainee at the drac paca with the advisor for the book and reading.
• Update, July 2013, carried out by Margaux Baussant, trainee at the drac Paca with the advisor for book and reading in the framework of a Master 1 "Law and Management of culture and media" at L'IMPGT, Institute of Public Management and Territorial Governance, University of Aix-Marseille.