A diamond freed from its gangue
77 m²
Marseille, France
110 000 €
Radically minimal
Three-bedroom
Olivia Fauvelle Architecture
For Sloft+ members only
Le Camas is a popular, densely populated, highly urbanized district of Marseille, but it still has a village feel thanks to its many small shops, bars and restaurants. This is where architect Olivia Fauvelle and her small family have found happiness. In the heart of a monumental block of flats, itself embedded in the traditional urban landscape of
Marseille's "3 windows"*.
Their apartment is on the 3rd floor of a rather banal-looking 8 story building from the early 1960s. "
It's a typology that's wrongly considered low-quality if you stop at the prosaic aesthetics of the facades," says Olivia.
And yet, despite their rather simplistic and imposing appearance, these buildings house apartments with extreme modularity thanks to their post-and-beam structural system. After demolishing the partitions, the result is a large, uncluttered floor space revealing spatial qualities that were initially unnoticed: through-lighting, perspectives and cross-views, impressive volumes and concrete posts, a kind of ready-made".
It is precisely these qualities that the project aims to restore. The original, over-partitioned layout has been freed up, leaving only the load-bearing elements. The restructured space highlights the constructive elements: two load-bearing posts, and a north-south wall running along the sloping boundary, which brings the interior to life and gives it its uniqueness. Olivia designed the spaces to accommodate a family of 4, guided by a strong desire of togetherness. The bedrooms, reduced to a minimum surface area, give way to shared spaces: the central space, with its shifting, undefined function, and the vast, naturally lit bathroom.
Two elements, in addition to the two concrete posts, define the central space and give a clear idea of the design:
- a continuous curtain, a device borrowed from stage design and theater, acts as a backdrop, bearing witness to family life. It emphasizes the crossing function of this space and allows it to be organized differently according to needs and times of day.
- a central, cast-in-place table in fiber-reinforced concrete, responding to the brutal geometric shapes of the central block. Its configuration articulates several uses, made possible and obvious by the presence of the post: alternately or simultaneously dining table, desk, work surface, storage space, it federates family life.
While the southern part of the communal space is deliberately rather
"rigid", the northern part, now a music room, offers freedom of use, adaptation and interpretation.
"This was thought out in the hope that the apartment would have a capacity for evolution that would exceed our time of occupancy of this dwelling," concludes Olivia.
* A typical downtown building, very commonly built from the 17th to the early 20th century, featuring walk-through apartments with three windows opening onto the street and courtyard.
