Marseilles | Brutalism in Marseille: A visit to the Cité Radieuse

Balcony design and swimming pool on the roof terrace in the residential unit of the Cité radieuse by the architect Le Corbusier in Marseille Photo: Unsplash; imago/IPON No way through. How often there is heavy traffic in Marseille, especially when buses and subways go on strike! The taxi laboriously makes its way through the city landscape, although my neighborhood is far away from the trendy areas of the city center. Finally we stop in front of a house colossus: my eyes slide up the endless, plain facade, the house looks like a dry ocean liner on elephant feet. It's a cloudy day, but the Cité Radieuse, "the radiant city," as the monstrous building is called, exudes something like cheerfulness. Red, blue, green and yellow balconies break up the angular exposed concrete.

It is the optimism with which Le Corbusier wanted to propagate a new type of living in the mid-20th century. At that time there was an acute housing shortage in Marseille. The city was partly badly damaged in the Second World War - not least because the German occupiers destroyed the district around the Old Port and left many people homeless. New housing was urgently needed. In 1945, the French-Swiss architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, was commissioned to build a Unité d'habitation, a residential unit for 1,600 people. He was given free rein when it came to the design. As part of urban densification, he planned upwards; by 1952, a 56-meter-high residential machine with 337 apartments, shops and various service facilities was built. My hotel is also one of them.

»I've actually wanted to move for a long time because I need more space to work. But I just can’t get away from here.”

"Troisième étage", third floor, murmurs the concierge, sitting behind his glass counter in the elegant foyer, pointing to the elevator opposite. Once at the top, diagonally opposite is the restaurant “Le Ventre de l’Architecte” (the architect’s belly) with the reception. I'm already walking with an employee through a dark corridor - Le Corbusier spoke of "Rues", streets - with doors in different colors. My room is finally behind a red door. A narrow room like a cell: toilet, sink and shower at the front, desk and bed behind, and a balcony with mountain views at the end. Everything is functional and well thought out, although the private hotel operator could be a little more careful with maintenance here and there.

And what else does the house look like? I find out about this shortly afterwards during a guided tour. It is said to be the most frequently booked of all the city tours in Marseille. Apparently there are also many people interested in architecture among the tourists who want to find out what has become of the utopia of a vertical garden city, which also attracted many critics.

Vertical garden city? Well, there are already some trees around the building. But you won't find anything like floral decorations or parks. “Nature was a very important element for Le Corbusier,” says the guide. »It was much greener here in his time. The residential unit was still far outside the city area. In addition to nature, as much peace and light as possible should ensure the quality of life of the residents. Hence, for example, the east and west facing apartments, large window fronts and double glazing. The architect also hoped that the dark corridors would encourage people to speak quietly.

We can see what it looks like inside in a model apartment. Designed for a family with several children, it is spread over two levels. Below is the living area with an open kitchen and balcony, above are the bedrooms, a bathroom for the parents and a separate shower for the children. Thanks to the wall cupboards, the tenants at the time - mainly members of the lower middle class and civil servants - only needed a small amount of furniture. Through clever division without hallways, the available space was used optimally. The measure of all things, even for the low ceiling height, was the so-called Modulor, for which the architect based himself on the proportions of a 1.83 meter tall man with his arm stretched up.

For housewives - at that time fewer women were employed than today - short distances were supposed to make life easier, and not just in the kitchen. The residential unit also had a bakery and pastry shop, a butcher, many other shops, doctor's offices and medical facilities, so they hardly had to leave the house. The kindergarten on the roof is also still in operation; A former care room now serves as a painting studio.

We often come across families leaving the house. The roof is the highlight of the Cité Radieuse in the truest sense of the word. The breathtaking view of the sea, the mountains and the city landscape, in which later high-rise towers set accents, is worth the visit alone. On the roof, Le Corbusier created space for culture, sport and education: a kindergarten, an open-air theater and a gymnasium, which currently houses the Mamo art center. With a length of more than 100 meters, there is plenty of space for taking a breath of air, jogging and for events.

The Association des Habitants, the association of residents made up of tenants and owners, ensures that something is always happening in the Unité d’habitation. "On the one hand, older people live here, the oldest resident is 104, who moved in once and don't want to leave," explains the guide. The others are younger people, couples or families who are enthusiastic about Le Corbusier.

I meet some of them early in the evening at a vernissage in the entrance hall. Two artists exhibit images of stylized birds and landscapes. Lively conversations take place between visitors and residents over wine and snacks. One of them is José Maria Martin, an artist himself, who tells me how much he enjoys living in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. »I've actually wanted to move for a long time because I need more space to work. But I just can’t get away from here.” Of course, a lot has changed over the years. The last baker moved out at some point because no one wanted to buy his dry baguette. Galleries, offices and a bookstore have now moved into other shops. »What worries me a lot is that some owners are renting out their apartment on Airbnb and are now seeing more and more suitcases rolling down the halls. Somehow no one can stop this. But well, where is there anything that’s perfect?”

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