By Fondation Le Corbusier:
"'The origin of this analysis […] goes again to my go to to the Charterhouse of Ema close to Florence, in 1907. I noticed, on this musical panorama of Tuscany, a contemporary metropolis crowning the hill […] every cell has a view of the plain, and opens onto a small, fully enclosed backyard beneath. I assumed I might by no means be capable of come throughout such a cheerful interpretation of the habitation […] This "fashionable metropolis" dates from the fifteenth century. The radiant imaginative and prescient stayed with me endlessly.'
Le Corbusier, Precisions on the Current State of Structure and Metropolis Planning, 1930
Fee
Within the aftermath of the Second World Struggle, the federal government's precedence was rehousing, reconstruction and eventually redevelopment of the territory. In Marseille destruction was widespread: the ruins prolonged over near 25 acres; some 3,600 buildings had been destroyed and 10,800 partially broken.
On July 20, 1945, the Minister of Reconstruction and Urbanism Raoul Dautry commissioned Le Corbusier to assemble a collective constructing. Passing from the Maison Dom-ino to the Radiant Metropolis, through the Villa flats and the Metropolis of Three Million Inhabitants, Le Corbusier offered Marseille with the excessive level of greater than twenty years of analysis on housing, the hyperlinks between the person and the collective, but in addition the place of nature in structure and concrete planning. His reflection isn’t solitary: between the CIAM (Worldwide Congress of Trendy Structure) and the creation of ASCORAL (Affiliation of Builders for Architectural Renovation) in 1943, Le Corbusier continued to mirror, collectively together with his colleagues, on structure and town.
After a number of proposals, the ultimate model of the Marseille Housing Unit was adopted in March 1947. The land chosen was situated within the middle-class neighbourhoods within the south of Marseille, between the hill and the ocean. The Marseille Housing Unit was designed by Le Corbusier and his workshop directed by André Wogenscky, along with the Atelier des Bâtisseurs (ATBAT) based by Le Corbusier and with its administration entrusted to Vladimir Bodiansky.
Challenge
Concurrently an architectural experiment, an city idea and a social expertise, the Marseille Housing Unit brings collectively 330 housing items with fashionable consolation in addition to collective areas. The constructing is 135 m lengthy, 24 m vast, 56 m excessive. The Unit is mounted on stilts in an effort to save area on the bottom each for greenery and to permit pedestrians and vehicles to flow into beneath it. Using pilotis is a vital ingredient of the Inexperienced Metropolis designed by Le Corbusier. The constructing is furthermore situated within the centre of a wooded park.
The Housing Unit is made in line with Modulor and its body is in strengthened concrete cased in situ. The facades are generally uncooked, generally painted, as on the degree of the loggias. The flats are accessible from the massive entrance corridor giving entry to the lifts and the staircases.
The flats are divided into 23 differing kinds, assembled on the 'bottle rack' precept, i.e. they’re inbuilt an impartial framework of strengthened concrete posts and beams. They relaxation on a major construction known as 'synthetic floor,' a community of transverse and longitudinal beams.
These 23 varieties are designed utilizing eight combos made potential by way of three normal modules. The primary module brings collectively the doorway, the hallway, the kitchen and the lounge; the second is occupied by the main bedroom and the bathroom block whereas the third module is meant for 2 kids's bedrooms.
Though their sizes range (from a single particular person's dwelling to an residence for a household with eight kids), their group is comparable. The flats, except for these on the south facade, are by means of. They might be on two flooring related by a staircase. These had been made in collaboration between Jean Prouvé, the workshops of Nancy and Le Corbusier. Their design is standardized, made up of various impartial cells. There isn’t a contact between the totally different flats and they’re soundproofed in an effort to assure the privateness of every household. Deeply impressed by his go to to the Ema Charterhouse in 1907, Le Corbusier wished every dwelling to stay impartial throughout the unit.
The lodging are all geared up with fashionable consolation: operating water, central heating, sanitary services and a air flow system. The kitchen items, designed by Le Corbusier and ATBAT, along with Simone Galepin and primarily based on a proposal by Charlotte Perriand, are geared up like laboratories (electrical cooker, garbage chute, fridge cupboards, a number of storage items).
The flats all profit from a loggia in the lounge with double-glazed bay home windows that absolutely let within the mild in winter, whereas brise soleils are designed to filter it out in summer season.
The flats are accessed by a system of inside streets, which not solely permit the occupants accede to their flats, but in addition permit mail and purchases from the Housing Unit's grocery retailer to be delivered. Le Corbusier noticed the Unité d'Habitation as a 'vertical metropolis,' with procuring streets on the seventh and eighth flooring. Thus there are numerous retailers throughout the constructing and there may be even a hotel-restaurant for using occupants' households.
Full use can be manufactured from the Housing Unit's roof. The 300 sq m roof terrace features a operating observe, a gymnasium, an open-air theatre, a nursery faculty with a paddling pool, and above these a day nursery, now a paint store.
The backyard is lit by luminous concrete bollards. There may be additionally the 'Measurement Stele' and a refuse assortment station. The Marseille Housing Unit was inaugurated on October 14, 1952.
On that event, Eugène Claudius-Petit, then Minister of Reconstruction and City Planning, offered Le Corbusier with the insignia of Commander of the Légion d'Honneur.
Subsequent Historical past
Quickly turning into a logo of recent structure and a founding work of Brutalism, the Cité Radieuse in Marseille is a outstanding instance of the stability between particular person housing and collective dwelling; as we speak it’s nonetheless occupied as an residence block. It influenced many later tasks, being the primary Housing Unit to be constructed. Rezé-les-Nantes, Berlin, Briey en Forêt and Firminy had been to observe.
Since 2013, the gymnasium of the Marseille Housing Unit has housed the Mamo (Marseille Modulor), a recent artwork centre by the designer Ora Ito. The Stage One road nonetheless features a bookshop specializing in structure, a resort, a restaurant, an artwork gallery and a mini-market, and many others. The nursery faculty on the roof terrace continues to be in operation.
The Cité Radieuse has benefited from a number of safety measures. Along with being labelled Exceptional Modern Structure, it’s a part of the Collection listed as World Heritage. The facades had been listed in 1964, at Le Corbusier's instigation.
Since 1986, the facades, the terraces and their fittings, the whole portico and the area beneath it have been categorized.
Inside, the widespread areas are categorized: the doorway corridor, the circulation areas with their services (lifts excepted), residence nº643, as we speak reserved for visits by town of Marseille Vacationer Workplace.
One other non-public residence, quantity 50, which belonged to Lilette Rippert, the primary trainer on the rooftop nursery faculty, has been absolutely listed since 1995.
For the reason that inscription on the World Heritage Checklist, a process has additionally been initiated for classifying the backyard, now a public park belonging to the Metropolis of Marseille, and the refuse assortment station.
All of the facades have been restored since 2007, beginning with the west facade. The roof terrace, the waterproofing, the chimney, and varied different elements had been restored between 2010-2011, adopted by restoration of the boiler room and the solarium adjoining the gymnasium on the roof terrace.
The doorway overhang ('cap') and the facades of the nursery faculty had been restored in 2022. The refuse assortment station, not too long ago absolutely categorized, is being restored."
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