Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles was built around 1950 by Le Corbusier
THE UNITÉ D’HABITATION
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The building which had the greatest impact on my student days and influenced the direction of my early career is the Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles by Le Corbusier. Built around 1950, this 16-storey concrete-framed building includes over 300 social housing apartments, a hotel, a restaurant, shops, a nursery school and a paddling pool surrounded by a running track on the roof. It inspired many architects of the era to design similar blocks of apartments – but, it can be argued, many were not so successful. What is Unité d’Habitation’s significance?
The building kick-started the Brutalist movement, with its use of exposed concrete and large imposing structure. However, the concept behind it stems from Le Corbusier’s ideas of sun, space and greenery interconnected with the home. The idea of the human scale (his ‘Modulor Man’) sometimes gets dwarfed by the size of the building, but the design embodies lots of ideas that we still use today. These include dual aspect homes, double height living spaces, flexible dividing screens, maximising views of the surrounding landscape, brise-soleil shading allowing winter sun whilst screening direct summer sun, and experimentation in new materials. Each of these can contribute to making the home a great place to live.
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“The design embodies lots of ideas that we still use today” When did you first see it?
In 2006, when we stayed in one of the Unité d’Habitation’s apartments that had retained its original fittings and paint colours. To visit a building you’ve admired from afar can be quite amazing, but I found sleeping in it really energising. What was its immediate impact on you?
As a young student it got me interested in housing. After finishing my studies, I went to work for architectural practices that were renowned for well-designed housing projects where I gained a passion for housing, urban design, and sustainability. Is the building still shaping your approach to your work now?
Although I’ve never designed a building like the Unité, I think the carefully considered concepts of human scale, architecture for social purpose and complex design made to look simple are still influencing me. If you can’t describe the design approach as a series of clear principles or by a simple set of diagrams, then you should go back to the drawing board.