Original name
Unité d'Habitation Marseille [Marseille Housing Unit]
Original use
Housing/housing block
Current use
Housing/housing block
Architects
Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, André Wogenscky, master builder
Engineers
Etude et exécution: ATBAT (Atelier de Bâtisseurs), Vladimir Bodiansky, directeur de l'ATBAT, Marcel Py, Directeur des travaux, Charlotte Perriand, Internal services
Concrete by reinforcement
Concrete is a relatively brittle material that is strong in compression but less so in tension.
To increase its overall strength, steel rods, wires, mesh or cables may be embedded in concrete before it sets. This reinforcement, often known as rebar, resists tensile forces. By forming a strong bond, the two materials are able to resist a variety of applied forces, effectively acting as a single structural element .
Construction method
In this case, the concrete can be made by mixing the components directly on site, or it may be transported from a production plant in concrete-mixer trucks.
This method has the disadvantage of leaving the concrete exposed to the elements while it is setting. Whereas, with other methods, the environmental conditions can be controlled during setting, providing greater control over the outcome, with cast-in-place concrete a series of tests and protocols are necessary to verify its final strength.
In its design, the element should account for aspects such as modulation, finishes, transportation, anchoring, installation on site, junctions between panels, the creation of openings and the relationship between the panels and joinery. The element may also be given characteristics that can improve the thermal insulation of the façade, for example. In that sense, they are often part of an industrialized system that offers a variety of responses to different construction situations and maximum versatility in terms of architectural solutions.
The aesthetic possibilities of concrete in prefabricated façade panel systems are endless in terms of size, shape, color, texture, hardness and a wide range of features.
Architectural concrete
- textured walls
- wooden formwork finish
- stamped concrete
- exposed aggregate concrete, colored concrete, etc.
Structural types
Beams are the horizontal load-bearing elements of the frame. Columns are the vertical elements of the frame and act as the building’s primary load-bearing element. They transmit the beam loads down to the foundations.
It is an archetypal form and one of the oldest forms in architecture, dating all the way back to prehistoric times. It is characterized by being subject only to compression loads, although it produces outward thrusts that need to be absorbed either through volume or geometric strategies (such as buttresses or flying buttresses). It is a typical structure used in tunnels.
State of Conservation
Description
The Unité d'Habitation is more than a residential building; it is a central element in the residential city concept developed by Le Corbusier for postwar reconstruction. Different versions of the Unité were built in other places, but the one in Marseille, the work of Shadrac Woods, George Candilis and Le Corbusier himself, is the first and most complete example. It has had an enormous influence on the subsequent development of the collective housing typology; it stands as a precursor of Brutalism and has inspired myriad buildings and neighborhoods all around the world.
It is a rectangular building, 130 m long and 56 m high, containing 337 duplex apartments that are accessed through an interior corridor running the length of the building, every three floors. The version in Marseille differs from other subsequent Unités in the ample size of its common spaces and its wide array of services: shops, sports installations, educational and health facilities, and a hotel. The open ground floor, raised atop pilotis, is surrounded by a broad landscaped space. The accessible roof functions as an area for socialization, incorporating a daycare center, swimming pools and zones for games and sports, with large sculptural concrete elements that singularize the space. As such, the building fulfills all the constitutive principles of the cité radieuse, which was not always the case with other models.
The use of exposed concrete responds to both economic and aesthetic reasons: the façade is organized by the apartments’ double-height terraces, protected from the sun by an expressive prefabricated concrete brise-soleil. The walls, painted in primary colors following a random distribution, and given a characteristic treatment to denote common service areas, provide variety and liveliness to the volume. The structure of concrete pillars and slabs is not displayed externally on the façade, except on the ground floor where the immense pilotis are adapted to the building’s urban scale.
France
Boulevard Michelet 280
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (Région), Bouches-du-Rhône (Département) 13008 Marseille
Commission
1945
Completion
1951