Marseille 6th - The Mediterranean
- department: Bouches-du-Rhône
- municipality: Marseille
- naming: The Mediterranean
- address : 60-102 avenue de Toulon
- Author: Atelier 9 (architects)
- date: 1964-1973
- protection: unprotected building
- label patrimoine XXe: Commission régionale du patrimoine et des sites (CRPS) du 16 November 2006
Close to the Gare de l'Est station, the Le Méditerranée residence (547 dwellings) is located on a strategic site that the Marseille town planning plan of 1949 designated as an essential element of urban development. On a land occupied until the 1960s by a varied industrial fabric, the project takes its name from the Forges and Chantiers de la Méditerranée, transferred to the industrial areas of the Canet.
The joint work of several architects on this operation is at the origin of the formation of Atelier 9, gathered around Georges Lefèvre, one of the first multidisciplinary groups founded in Marseille, who contributed to the renewal of the profession of architect.
Initiated in 1962, the project revolves around an office tower, which was to be the tallest in Europe and exceed the Pirelli tower of Gio Ponti in Milan, 33 floors high. The construction of the tower, completed in 1972, followed that of housing from 1966. The architectural project is based on a principle of diversity, which combines housing, offices and shops. The residence extends on a complete island, open to the south, where the tower is placed. The steep slope of the terrain creates a kind of amphitheatre staging around this urban signal. The centre of the island, rather residential, can be crossed by a series of intermediate terraces lined with small activities. The interior distribution of the island is divided into three spaces: the large garden slab, the terraces with planters and the forecourt on Cantini Avenue. Under the terraces, several levels of parking lot have more than a thousand places. There are 12-storey buildings that outline the block along the city lanes, while two lower-rise buildings organize the interior spaces.
Among the facilities of the residence, besides the offices, shops, a private crèche and a service station complete the set. A contrast between the exterior and interior of the island is emphasized by the differentiated treatment of the walls: those overlooking the street, little open, have a beige sandstone covering in small tiles, continuous horizontal bays, wooden woodwork and roller shutters. On the other hand, the interior offers an opening impression with its transparent balcony sills and a very lively colouring, obtained by a subtle distribution of the coloured blinds. Inside the buildings, the dwellings are based on a structure of concrete load-bearing flats, which allows the organization in through apartments.
The Mediterranean residence marks a decisive step in the access of the Marseilles middle classes to the large urban complex, thus testifying to an evolution towards a collective and modern lifestyle.
- Editor: Thierry Durousseau, architect, 2006
Read also in Heritage of the 20th century, the study Marseille, ensembles and residences from 1955/1975
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