LE TEMPS lundi 22 août 2016.
Quand la Cité radieuse irradie Marseille
Le Corbusier's housing unit is among the 17 sites of the architect to be listed as World Heritage in 2016. Report in a work that revolutionized post-war collective housing and condenses all the architectural philosophy of the master.
The boulevard Michelet goes along endlessly. An artery of 2.5 kilometers between the 8th and 9th districts of Marseille. (...) The Cité radieuse is there, impassive for more than 50 years on its concrete pilings. (...) In front of the five elevators of the entrance hall, families, Japanese couples and architecture students stand around under the eye of the building guard. A resident and her dog mingle with the curious. All of them will take their first break on the third floor.
The elevator doors open onto the Hotel Le Corbusier and its restaurant "Le Ventre de l'Architecte", by the Gérardin couple. Originally from Saint-Etienne, Dominique and Alban are neither hotel professionals nor architecture enthusiasts. Yet, since 2003, they have been at the helm of the hotel-restaurant of the Cité Radieuse.
Ten years earlier, in 1993, this pair of dynamic executives from Saint-Etienne was looking for a pied-à-terre in Marseille. They spotted an oddly shaped building in the extension of the Canebière. A jewel of Art Deco, the house was designed by Gaston Castel, a forgotten architect of the Roaring Twenties. The Gérardins acquired it. A passionate rehabilitation then began. Then it was the turn of the Cité Radieuse, whose hotel and restaurant were refurbished by the Gérardins according to the rules of art.
Designed by Le Corbusier as an "extension of the home", the semi-gastronomic restaurant and the 21-room hotel have been restored to their former glory: with Jacobsen-style Fourmi chairs, Charlotte Perriand-inspired tables and Jean Prouvé's Compas, the Gérardins invest and shop around. They live on the fifth floor with their son and do not count their hours.
Since their arrival, Dominique and Alban have managed the cutlery, reservations and free visits to the restaurant, which is located outside the common areas of the housing unit, which are managed by the residents' association. The latter also acts as a relay with the condominium for renovation issues. (...)
The following article by Mehdi Atmani, Marseille
Published Monday, August 22, 2016 on:
https://www.letemps.ch/culture/2016/08/22/cite-radieuse-irradie-marseille
English 
French