My visit to the bright, vertical city

My assumptions are being disproved...

From the side, I enter the property at sunny 28 degrees and I have to admit my speculations are clearly refuted by what I see. The "concrete block" opens up in a gentle and masterly way. The immense size only becomes clear when you see the entire Le Corbusier building in front of you. The trees are positioned in such a manner that it is just not possible to feel "overwhelmed" and the colours on the balconies loosen up the concrete building.

Before I go to the entrance of the Cité Radieuse, Le Corbusier's Modulor welcomes me and I feel a desire to finally enter the building, which is a listed building and since 2016 part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Past the doorman and with the elevator to the publicly accessible "streets" on floors 3 and 4. On the third floor of the Wohnmaschine is the "shopping street". Here I stroll past the restaurant and the hotel bar in raptures, see where you can buy things, promenade past the bookshop and admire the light-flooded rooms and wonderful colours.

My visit of the radiant, vertical city of Le Corbusier

But what most impresses me is the wonderful and exciting roof terrace of the Unité d'habitation in Marseille. I arrive at the top with the old elevator; an unbelievable view looking to the sea opens up to me. How might it have looked like in former times, after World War II (in 1943, the whole harbour area was blown up) and during the construction time of the Unité? Many things go through my mind when I let my gaze wander. Collective living in the post-war period? Brightening up the dreariness of those years with colour? Building high buildings when there were no tall houses yet? Theatre, school, restaurant, shop, runway and pool in the same building as the daily family life? Today, attempts are again being made to bring a variety of leisure activities under one roof in the "modern buildings". Today, that is 2020 – the building of Le Corbusier, on whose roof I stand, was built between 1947 and 1952...

So, as I walk across the roof of the Le Corbusier building and think about all the questions, I suddenly notice how comfortable I feel here. It's rare that the first time you visit a building, you just feel 'at home'. Sitting in the sun, I forget about the M2 metro line, which will take me back to the city centre. I forget the cars, pedestrians and mopeds. I am deeply impressed about this radiant city of Le Corbusier and Marseille, a city that combines southern flair and exciting history at 28 degrees.

Le Corbusier colour on the example of the Unité d'habitation in Marseille

The French architect and architectural historian Pascal Mory, responsible for the reproduction of an apartment of the Cité Radieuse in Marseille for the Paris Architecture Museum, explains the Le Corbusier colour concept for the contribution «The Colours of the Collective» as follows:

"The post-war architecture of Le Corbusier is characterised by a vivid colour scheme – which often takes the form of colour accents. The "Béton Brut", the raw concrete, plays an important role in the combination with colour as well. With the Unité d'habitation, Le Corbusier created one of his most important and well-known buildings in terms of colouring”, says Pascal Mory. He also explains that until that time it was not usual to paint concrete with paint, as the many openings in the structure required multiple coats of paint. This was done to give the result a certain depth of colour. Mory suspects that Le Corbusier was the first to combine colour and Béton Brut. Le Corbusier states this in relation to the Cité Frugès:

„[...] The cement plaster are of an unbearable sadness. It meant making use of colour to give appeal and mainly to distance each house, one from the other, to open perspectives, to break the grip of too close walls."