Hôtel Le Corbusier

The radical designs of Swiss-born architect, Le Corbusier (aka Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, 1887 -- 1965), have long been associated with Marseille. In 1952, in a location 2km (1 1/4 miles) south of Marseille's Vieux Port, he designed the Unité d'Habitation (it's also known as La Cité Radieuse), a multifunctional, nine-story building that combines shops and apartments for 1,500 residents. Within his original plan was a provision for a hotel which, beginning in 1959, opened its doors for business to the general public from the building's third and fourth floors.

The husband-and-wife team of Alban and Dominique Gérardin has worked hard to strip the hotel back to the original combination of expressionism and functionalism for which Le Corbusier is known. They've zealously retained a handful of their studios' original kitchens, each designed by Le Corbusier's now-celebrated collaborator Charlotte Perriand (none of them actually works, but they're highly prized as minimalist statements nonetheless), and outfitted the hotel with the kind of Apartan, functional, and often metallic furniture, lighting fixtures, and accessories of which the great designer would have approved. The smallest units evoke cruise ship cabins; larger units are more airy and congenial, some with their (nonworking) original kitchens. On the premises is a restaurant, Le Ventre de l'Architect (the Architect's Stomach).

Facilities:
Restaurant; bar; exercise room; wading pool

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

Back to Top