Location:  Marseille
Programme: two family homes
Client:  SNC Bains de Mer Chauds
Project management team: Jean Baptiste Pietri, Sophie Roy Métais, Emilie Ballu; engineers: Setor
Net floor area:  450 m² and 150 m²
Cost:  €3 M excl. VAT
Handover: 2008

Located near the old port in Marseille on the Corniche Kennedy, the Bains de Mer Chauds house, formerly a thalassotherapy centre, integrates into an exceptional site facing the sea. Inspired by the architecture of coastal resorts, the house develops a language that respects the unrefined yet gentle Mediterranean and working class atmosphere that is so specific to Marseille.
Slotted into a jumbled mass of dense buildings, this urban location is typical of the Mediterranean coastline created by the accumulation of buildings built over the centuries. The two houses fit into this particular context while fully retaining their comfortable programme. They represent an atypical integration in this landscape. 
The choice of simple materials and the low-key visual expression of the house enclosed by venetian blinds create a link between a clearly contemporary architecture and a desire to anchor the project into its surrounding context.