Type C duplex in the Cité Radieuse

On the fifth floor of the Cité Radieuse, this extended type C downstairs duplex offers 63.59 m² LC over two levels.

The upper level features an entrance hall with storage space, a Charlotte Perriand kitchen and a living-dining room. A Jean Prouvé staircase leads to the lower level, which includes a vast space currently used as a bedroom and study, opening onto a terrace. A large Charlotte Perriand wardrobe, included in the sale, originally partitioned the night space. A corridor with storage space and a bathroom with separate toilet complete the ensemble.

All the apartment’s spaces are bathed in natural light thanks to the huge original southwest-facing bay windows, and enjoy unobstructed views all the way to the sea.

The upper level of this duplex was extended to create more living space over the original living room void. However, it is possible to restore the original layout and double height.

The apartment has retained its original furnishings.

The integrated storage, kitchen and bedroom layouts were designed by architect Charlotte Perriand. She began designing the kitchen for the Cité Radieuse in 1946. With a surface area of around 5m², this square-plan kitchen is integrated into the living/dining room thanks to its bar area. It was inspired in particular by the American kitchen and by Margaret Schütte-Lihotzky’s ” Frankfurter Küche ” of 1928, designed around a desire to optimize domestic work. Vladimir Bodiansky completes the final version.

Exploiting the plastic and technical possibilities of concrete, Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse is a revolutionary housing unit, a concrete structure on stilts into which duplex apartments and services are inserted. The regular grid of the façade, with its prefabricated concrete brise-soleil, is matched on the roof by sculptural forms, such as the large chimney. Both inside and outside the building, the architect has developed a chromatic approach to space, using primary colors to cover the interior of the loggias and apartment doors.

Based on the measurements of the modulor – a human silhouette whose proportions are inspired by the golden ratio – the spaces in this apartment are designed in harmony with the human body and offer a high level of comfort.

Born in Switzerland in 1887, and died in 1965, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier, was an architect and urban planner renowned for his ability to turn architecture into a total art. He thought about buildings and interior design in terms of both furnishings and comfort, and took the urban planning dimension into account in all his creations. He remains one of the most emblematic figures of the Modern Movement.

Throughout his career, Le Corbusier shared his visions and theories through his participation in international exhibitions such as that of 1925, where he presented the Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, and that of 1937, with his Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux.

A champion of modernism and a rejection of the decorative arts, Le Corbusier’s architectural thinking is reflected in his villas, most notably in the villa Savoye in 1928, where he theorized the “five points of modern architecture” (pilotis, roof terrace, banded windows, free facade and free plan).

Although he was one of the most prolific architects of his time, many of his projects never saw the light of day, such as the Plan “Voisin”or the Contemporary city of three million inhabitants. Although sometimes too polemical or radical in the eyes of the general public, Le Corbusier’s work nevertheless enjoyed international resonance. His last major project was offered to him by the city of Chandigarh, India. He was commissioned to oversee all urban planning work for the creation of the new capital of Punjab, where he blended raw concrete with lush vegetation.

The construction of the Unité d’habitation de Marseille, Le Corbusier’s first commission from the French government, was part of the reconstruction of the city of Marseille. The city benefited from the buildings of great modern architects, such as Fernand Pouillon, who rebuilt Marseille’s Vieux-Port under the direction of Auguste Perret for the master plan, combining traditional know-how, innovative construction techniques and respect for the site.

The Cité radieuse de Marseille or “Maison du fada” was the first housing unit built by Le Corbusier in France, before those in Rezé, Briey, Firminy and Berlin. Collective housing played an important role in Le Corbusier’s thinking, and the Unité d’habitation had its origins in the immeuble-villa that he imagined as early as the 1920s, as a means of urban renewal combining housing and services. In the ’30s, he theorized the concept of the “Unité d’habitation”, which he used in the 1944 reconstruction plan for Saint-Dié, never realized, and which he implemented in Marseille. Conceived as a vertical garden city, the Unité d’habitation combines all the functions associated with housing: apartments, shops, schools, leisure and living facilities.

This “living machine” is built according to the five points of modern architecture published in 1926 by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret under the title Les cinq points d’une nouvelle architecture: pilotis, roof terraces, free plan, free facade and long windows, which Le Corbusier introduced in the late years to create masterpieces such as the Villa Stein and Villa Savoye in the late 20s.

Inhabitants of Marseille’s Cité radieuse, where a “neighborhood life” has taken root, with exhibitions, flea markets, a film club, a games room and a book club, celebrated the building’s fiftieth anniversary in 2003, celebrating the “Corbu spirit” that invited a new form of sociability by creating interior streets and living spaces. In 2013, the city of Marseille was named European Capital of Culture in recognition of its rich artistic heritage.

This exceptional example of housing architecture was classified as a Historic Monument in 1986, and a show apartment preserving its original décor was listed in 1995. The building has been the subject of a restoration campaign since 1988.