structural supports as possible and an appearance of ‘fine lace floating
above the train’.^12
Contrasting geometries between architectural and structural forms,
and even between structural forms within the same building, are evi-
dent at the Hôtel du Département (Regional Government Centre),
Marseilles (Fig. 3.47). The project can be read as an amalgamation of at
least four distinct architectural forms – two slab office-blocks linked by
a transparent atrium, and two exterior elongated tubular forms. One,
the Delibératif or council chambers, is free-standing while the Presidential
offices sit above the higher office block.
The most obvious contrast between forms occurs within the first three
storeys of the office blocks where exposed three-storey X-columns
align longitudinally along each side. They visually dominate the lower
storeys, both on the exterior where they are painted blue, and in the
atrium where they are white. One reviewer describes them thus: ‘the
X-shaped concrete pilotisline up one after each other, their unexpected
geometries ricocheting through the glazed atrium like sculptures by
Barbara Hepworth, Frank Stella or the Flintstones’.^13 While their struc-
tural form does not relate to any other architectural qualities within the
project, they function as transfer structures for gravity loads. They sup-
port columns located on a 5.4 m office module at third floor level and
above and extend to a 10.8 m grid at ground floor level that is suitably
large for basement car parking beneath. The architects deliberately
expose the dramatic X-columns on the exterior by moving the building
44 STRUCTURE AS ARCHITECTURE
▲ 3.47 Hôtel du Département, Marseilles, France, Alsop & Störmer, 1994. Office block
behind the Delibératif.
