The Euromed Center is part of aurban project called "Euroméditerranée" which addresses the global renewal for Marseilles commercial and industrial Harbour. This urban development involves various international architecture competitions.
Architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas have won the competition for “Euromed Center" in 2006.
The Euromed Centerprovides an urban mixity withinmore than 58 000s.q.m.:
- 4 office buildings called Astrolabe, Calypso, Hermione and Floreal, certified HQE ® (High Environmental Quality) and labeled Effinergie-BBC (building low consumption) for a total of 48,000 m2 to accommodate about 3,400 people.
- 4* Hotel Golden Tulip of 210 rooms/suiteswith swimming-pool,solarium terrace and fitness center.
-Pedestrian street with 2000 m2 of shops and services.
- 5000 m2 of new public green area including a 4 000 m2 park, which collects rainwater, the “Jardind'Arenc”.
- A cinema complex with 15 screens: the so-called "Dolphins".
Euromed Center is the starting point for the new central business district of Marseille
The whole project, led by Studio Fuksas, involved consultancy services with the following practices :
Michel Desvigne Landscape Paysagiste, Mathoulin&Jardin Architects,Lehoux - Phily–Samaha Architects, International d'Architecture.
The Golden Tulip with a façade facing the Mediterranean Square consists of a volume originating at the base of the tower, thus providing a base for the office building. The office building consists of two elements: the tower and the bar building. Having a simple geometric form, it was thought as a volumetric response to the Silo thus forming an urban gate.
The composition of the joining Buildings forms a unit. This building group, whose accesses are located at the Boulevard de Dunkerque are aligned in continuity with the boulevard and close the block formed by the Hotel and the office buildings, offering an urban character to the whole area. More private spaces are thus created and overlook the Inner Street or the Garden.
The Jardind'Arenc is equipped with the capacity to welcome, day or night, the pedestrians at any moment or the city users in arrivalfor events of interest. Furthermore, it is important that a constructed assembly of this size also have open, welcoming and freely usable spaces.
The Environmental quality can not be restricted to the vegetation of the exterior and interior spaces, but must also be integrated in the design of the structures and their skin.The façades of the office and hotel buildings (west exposure) are treated with solar protection and acoustic protection systems, in view of the proximity of the expressway, particularly at the Boulevard du Littoral.
The Multiplex participates with its sculptural cover to give the architectural ensemble a strong visual presence in the redesigned urban landscape. The fluid forms are voluntarily integrated into the set of constructions that slip into the wind.
The entire complex seems to be participating in this desire for a city in motion, always “inprogress”, everything seems to play with the light that delights in its caresses to enhance and transform the sweetness and roundness of volumes and surfaces. The interior spaces are equally as dynamic with the striking design of the public and private spaces. Thus we make our contribution to the architectures which constitute the city and which have always nourished and enriched it, with urban mixity and architectural variations. But beyond reality, beyond constraints, we have sought to endow this project with a poetic dimension.
