Le Corbusier's 'Unite d'Habitation' fire, Marseilles, France

Abstraktion.org was shocked to receive an email regarding the fire at Unité d’Habitation last week, we love inoovative and modernist works..

Le Corbusier, Unite d'Habitation, Marseille, France

Unité d’Habitation, masterpiece of the pioneer of modern architecture, Le Corbusier, suffered a blaze last week. Several apartments in the Marseille building, also known as La Cité Radieuse, were damaged when a fire broke out on 9 February, injuring seven people. A 2004 visit to Unité d’Habitation reignited my enthusiasm for architecture. It is a  conceptual tour de force coupled with a bravura display of craftsmanship. Conceived as a ‘city in the sky’, the building is set in parkland and contains apartments, shops, a hotel, a restaurant and rooftop kindergarten. Many of the details, from the huge almond-shaped pilotti (columns) to the beautiful door handles, are bespoke. The rich colour palette adds a luxurious quality to the interiors and creates an abstract composition out of the elevation.

Built between 1945 and 1952, the building proved hugely influential to architects struggling to re-house postwar Europe. The inferiority of much of what followed should not detract from the sheer quality of this landmark building, now a much sought-after Marseille address.

 

Fire at Unite d'Habitation, Marseille, France

by Guest Editor: Jason Daye