architect says that when the sky is just right, his
building disappears, blending into the air. He compares
the overall effect to op art.
Opinions on the street are strong – some love the
newcomer, others wonder when the ‘scaffolding’
will be taken down. One man simply states that towers
belong in China and Dubai, not Marseille. But even
in Marseille the times are changing, and La Marseillaise
is the centrepiece of a new private development called
Les Quais d’Arenc, four buildings by the sea with a total
surface area of nearly 100,000 sq m. The developer,
Constructa, is a French family-owned company run
by Marc Pietri, a jovial character with razor-sharp
business instincts. Constructa operated in the US
for 22 years where, Pietri says, ‘I learned that the
renaissance of cities starts with their waterfronts.’
In 2002 he bought this plot of land in a neglected
area of Marseille near the commercial port, covered
with abandoned warehouses and highways. The powers
behind Euroméditerranée asked him to construct
high-rises here, a major risk in a zone where nobody
could imagine living or working. He decided he would
only undertake the Quais d’Arenc project if he could
work with the right architects, so he contacted Nouvel
and offered him the signature building. The two
quickly hit it off. Nonetheless, Pietri admits that there
were nights he lay awake, wondering what he had
got himself into: ‘A tower, in Marseille? Am I crazy?’
Ultimately, his gamble has been a success, and
La Marseillaise is nearly 100 per cent occupied. As for
the three other structures, local architect Roland Carta
completed an eight-storey office building in 2014, while
Pietri’s architect son, Jean-Baptiste, has designed thetwo remaining buildings. (One was originally meant
for Yves Lion, but he and the project parted ways.)
Raised in Marseille and based in Paris, Jean-Baptiste
says Les Quais d’Arenc represents a major triumph.
Attracting people to the neighbourhood was the first
big challenge. The other was that in France – and
especially in Marseille – ‘building a high-rise is difficult’.
Towers taller than 50m have particularly stringent
security regulations. They also have a terrible
reputation, especially residential ones. Nonetheless,
Jean-Baptiste has designed a 99m-tall, 30-storey, all-
white apartment building with around 150 high-end
residences. Construction should start in 2021. Work will
start next year on his other building for the site, La
Porte Bleue. It will stand 56m tall, housing apartments
and a residence hotel aimed at the nearly two million
cruise ship travellers who come to Marseille annually.
Jean-Baptiste imagined La Porte Bleue as a kind
of gateway to the city. Like Nouvel, he concentrated
on the building’s facade, and will cover it with a series
of self-supporting concrete arches, which will offer
shade and permit larger windows than would ordinarily
be possible. Despite its name, it will be white, not blue.
Jean-Baptiste jokes that Nouvel ‘took all the colours’.
These sophisticated new towers embody the lofty
ambitions of this long-troubled city. When Constructa
called Nouvel to offer him the skyscraper commission,
the architect did not hesitate. As he explains, ‘It’s
not everyday you have a project like this one, and you
must seize the occasion.’ Then he adds a comparison
any local would understand: ‘It’s like football – there’s
not always a chance to score a goal.’ ∂
jeannouvel.com; lesquaisdarenc.com‘I wanted to show that a tower can have identifying
characteristics and a connection to the place it’s built’
MARSEILLE’S EVOLVING
WATERSIDE SKYLINE FEATURES
LA MARSEILLAISE (RIGHT) AND
ZAHA HADID’S TOWER FOR
SHIPPING COMPANY CMA CGM
(LEFT), COMPLETED IN 2011
WITH A PROMISE IT WOULD
REMAIN THE CITY’S TALLEST180 ∑
Architecture