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