Villeneuve-Loubet - Marina Baie des Anges
- department: Alpes-Maritimes
- town: Villeneuve-Loubet
- naming: Marina Baie des Anges
- address : RN 98
- Author: André MINANGOY (architect)
- date: 1969-1993
- protection: unprotected building
- label patrimoine XXe: Commission régionale du patrimoine et des sites (CRPS) of 28 November 2000
The rise of the summer holidays and the regional planning policy of the 1960s prompted the tourist development of the Côte d'Azur, already urbanized, where no major operation was planned except for infrastructure. Marina-Baie des Anges is therefore an exception when it comes to subdivision splits. This unique urban piece, located between Antibes and Nice, raised a violent controversy due to its gigantism and its visual barrier effect on the seaside. A work with an undeniable plastic effect, evoking huge white waves, the whole building in bleachers winding on itself, like a formidable squadron of sailboats, is the result of a slow maturation defying the standards of regulation.
On a relatively flat site of 16 ha between the shore and the railway, 1300 dwellings are organized around an amphitheatre divided into two households consisting of a marina and a park, the beaches being pushed outside. An artificial floor made of slabs covering the parking lots is surrounded by 4 pyramids of thin thickness with vegetated hooks. Around the harbour, the facilities include, in addition to the harbour master’s office and functional accommodation, a row of shops, a swimming pool and a thalassotherapy centre. The sporting image of the place’s summer resort quickly proved to be in contradiction with the lifestyle of the inhabitants, mostly retired in permanent residence.
Lucien Nouvel, a chemist by training, a wealthy industrialist, embarked on leisure real estate. Although a novice in the field, he opted for a vast ensemble on a site acquired in Villeneuve-Loubet around 1960. The consolidation of the plots of land (17 plots) was largely carried out by the Groupe Nouvel and the Groupe Carat from 1962 to 1968, at the same time that a first construction project was entrusted by the Groupe Carat to the architectural firm Lemaresquier. This project consisted of a set of vertical towers and concentric buildings. Serious financial difficulties led the Carat Group to abandon the project, the Nouvel Group to seek new support, and by abandoning the Lemarsquier project, to accept the one proposed by the design office André Minangoy. Work began in January 1969, under the aegis of the Marina Group owned by Mr. Jean Marchand.
After the Liberation, Mr. André Minangoy, living in Cannes and Vence, successfully carries out his activity of architecture on the French Riviera, and notably realizes the domain of Pierre-Long in Cannes, whose balconies with the characteristic structure foreshadow the architecture of Marina Baie des Anges. At the same time, Mr. Paul Clos, Polytechnicien (GM), Inspector General of Urban Planning, designed and built the port of Marina and obtained the necessary authorizations from the Directorate General of Ports in Paris. Michel Marot, Grand Prix de Rome, is the counsel of Jean Marchand. André Minangoy and Jean Marchand developed throughout the friendship relations program. André Minangoy, who died in 1985, passed on his artistic and literary rights to Jean Marchand.
The enclosed complex with mixed circulation, culminating at 70 m, in the linear multiplied by the curve winding through the triangular ground, is penetrated by a discreet central door linked to a peripheral road. The main concern of the designer lies in the formal innovation of the pyramids with their very light lines, whose style is a matter of design, referring to the Guggenheim Museum of F. L. Wright. Above all the aesthetics, the stunning beauty of a port surrounded by a wall decorated with artificial hills.
Through dwellings are not specifically researched. In comparison with Pierre-Longue’s model, the new idea is that of the exterior passageway which reduces the number of elevators and creates above all a perfect visual homogeneity between the facades. The identical sculptural railing on the front and back lends itself beautifully to the curves of the plane. To the inclination of the easement with the effect of cantilevering is added an integrated planter on the sea side that allows the concealment in the eyes of private outdoor spaces, especially in gable where the disconnections of the terraces give birth to the pyramidal form.
The construction took more than 20 years. The first ship (Admiral) was delivered in 1970, the second (Commodore) in 1972. After the completion of the third, 22-storey IGH (Ducal) in 1976, the pace slowed and the last building (Baronnet) began that year was not completed until 1993, at the same time as the thalassotherapy centre.
- Editor: Agnès Fuzibet, drac paca crmh, 2000
