Les terrasses du Port

With its ‘‘Port of Empire’’ status, Marseille has been a major harbour in the Mediterranean Sea since the 6th century. Since the 19th century, the city has increasingly lost contact with the seafront, as ever newer and larger industrial piers and warehouses were constructed along the seafront. The advent of container traffic over the last 40 years has made these piers and warehouses increasingly redundant, and Marseille has begun to re-colonise the water edge with cultural and commercial buildings. The largest of these projects is Les Terrasses du Port, a shopping centre constructed above the ferry port facilities.

The extension of the scheme seeks to transform it from an inward looking project into an urban, mixed-use destination connected to the adjacent public squares of the city and continues them to the edge of the port. The external façade of the building is created by a series of steel scales providing visual articulation and interest towards the inner city motorway. Uses include a casino, leisure, restaurants and cafés with a rooftop park that allows citizens to spend time again at the water’s edge watching the ferries arrive and depart.