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An architected landscape: The École Nationale Supérieure d' Architecture de Marseille is located in an exceptional setting with remarkable qualities for movement. Sitting on a north-facing slope, its architecture is characterized by various buildings spread around the site. Large white, simple, and pure volumes marry and continue the curve of the land. They are linked by steps and covered galleries. They are organized around these galleries and courtyards like so many flashbacks of typical Mediterranean shapes.
An architectural graft: The extension is part of the continuity of this "architected landscape." Keeping to the composition of the block plan, the existing system is extended, and a new "branch" has been created for horizontal growth. The building/outside traffic dialectic has thus been reinvested in.
Distance and Arte Povera, an autonomous building: The work of incorporating the extension into its environment by using local shapes has been counterbalanced by having to be distinct from what already existed. The colors are of the soil, pine-three bark, and the plant life of the inlet (calanque). On the vine arbor side, the façade is rougher with cladding in corrugated iron to better confirm its belonging to this harsh, barren space opening onto the landscape. Arte Povera is the hallmark.
The "gallery," a shared evolving space: This new passageway in the ENSA-M is a lane, a terrace, and a corridor, a multiple space good for working outdoors (model making, photography, a place for exchange and openness, for presenting work and exhibitions) shared between the three workshops.
Simple and rational: The simple model of the algeco-type bungalow is avoided by using an industrial system connecting self-supporting façade and roofing that ensure 11.25 m of clear space without any intermediary support points and a clear indoor height of 2.80 m (as opposed to the usual 2.5 meters in the modular building).