Le Brasilia, a first masterpiece in Marseille’s skyline

In the mid-1950s, developer and builder Georges Laville sought to construct a residential building on a plot of land near the Cité Radieuse, in the southeastern sector of the city of Marseille, which, since the implementation of the 1949 Urban Master Plan, belonged to the so-called “green city” zone. Its regulations favored buildings with a small footprint, tall and widely spaced, in order to preserve the vegetation cover of large estates and prevent their subdivision.

This commission, like many others at the time, responded to the clear shortage of housing in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, which was marked by significant population growth. While the 13th, 14th, and 15th arrondissements were mainly allocated to social housing projects, the situation was very different in the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 12th arrondissements, which were dominated by private development. Le Brasilia falls precisely into this latter category.

Despite its considerable scale, the project was entrusted to a young Marseille architect, freshly graduated, named Fernand Boukobza. This somewhat surprising choice can be explained by the existing connection between the architect and the developer, who had met at André Devin’s architectural practice during the design of Sulfur City, commissioned by Georges Laville and on which Fernand Boukobza had worked as an architecture student.

Fernand Boukobza opted here for a twenty-storey curved segment, oriented north–south, allowing for a significant extension of the convex façade on the southern side. Le Brasilia thus turns its back on the Cité Radieuse, which is oriented east–west.

The building’s interest lies precisely in the relationships it maintains with this famous neighbor, whether analogous or divergent. Indeed, the architect, while asserting his own individuality, repeatedly demonstrates the influence of Le Corbusier on his work. From the Cité Radieuse, he notably borrows the principle of the slab building on pilotis, double-aspect duplex apartments distributed via an internal corridor, rows of glazed window frames, loggias, the side emergency staircase, as well as the inclusion of commercial spaces.

A true sense of autonomy nevertheless emerges in the treatment of these elements, starting with the building’s arched, curved form, which contrasts with the orthogonal grid of the Unité d’habitation. The shops are detached from the building itself and placed within an autonomous circular volume. This arrangement limits the presence of non-residents inside the building while still maintaining a direct connection to the street.

The emergency staircase, meanwhile, is not confined to its functional role but asserts itself as a true sculptural object, endowed with greater fluidity, similar to the one that André Bloc would design a few years later for the Maison de l’Iran at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris (1961–1969, architect : Claude Parent). Serving every other level, it unfolds in a double spiral around two parallel cores of differing height and thickness.

The emergence of the cores beyond the stair flights, the absence of a crowning element, and the variation in height give the building an evolutionary dynamic, conceived as an entity capable of extending infinitely toward the sky. Through this approach, Fernand Boukobza was likely aiming to compensate for the reduction of one third of the building’s intended height, which was originally designed to reach 106 meters.

This movement is not limited to the emergency staircase but also concerns the building’s overall mass and its horizontal extensions. Indeed, the projecting ends of the beams of the twelve pilotis extend the structure and stage it visually. The same applies to the balcony railings of the loggias, marked by small protruding rectangular elements. Through these insertions, Fernand Boukobza engages in a dialogue with the movement of the Japanese Metabolist architects, who at the time considered architecture—like human society—as a “biological process,” an organism subject to cellular renewal and continuous development. A comparison can thus be made with the Yamanashi Press and Broadcasting Center (1961–1966), designed by Kenzo Tange, which also features projecting concrete canopies.

Fernand Boukobza (1926–2012), an architect born in Sousse, Tunisia, and who died in Marseille, trained at the Regional School of Architecture in the same city, which he joined in 1946. Graduating in 1956, he registered with the regional Order of Architects and devoted himself to the design of Le Brasilia. The fees earned from this project enabled him to develop his practice from his office, which he set up in the Cité Radieuse (unit I, 3rd street).

He went on to design several private commissions, such as the Tiféreth Israel Synagogue, the educational building of La Cadenelle, the headquarters of the Compagnie Fruitière, as well as numerous private houses. In terms of collective housing, he notably worked on the La Castellane housing estate, alongside architects Pierre Mathoulin, Pierre Meillassoux, and Pierre Jameux.

In parallel with his private practice, Fernand Boukobza taught at the Marseille Unité pédagogique d’architecture from 1971 to 1990 and was involved in local professional networks. In particular, he joined the Syndicat des architectes des Bouches-du-Rhône and took part in debates surrounding the profession.

Capucine Rigoigne