Rehabilitation of the J1 Hangar on the Port of Marseille into a metropolitan hub comprising a hotel, restaurants, offices, the “La Cité de la Mer” museum, an auditorium and a training centre.

“The J1 is a unique object.”
a collector’s piece, carefully set on a plinth, like La Major or the MuCEM.
This status of plinth-mounted, isolated, insular works is the hallmark of the “spirit of the port”, past and future alike. This static logic resonates with the movement of the great ships entering and leaving the channel. The scale and urban staging of the hall are enough to give it a personality, an image, a singular place in Marseille’s panorama. Everything is already there; there is no need to add anything.
“The J1 is a gangway towards the open sea”
A functional architecture that leaps and stretches towards the horizon, while remaining immovably anchored to the land.
This opening towards the port—this privileged, affectionate relationship with the water—is returned to the people of Marseille through a bespoke programme; while the connection to the city is strengthened by the horizontal line of the canopy, a sheltered plaza protected from the mistral and the summer sun. It houses a dense, unexpected garden that settles into the mineral character of the quays like an evocation of adventurous journeys: a garden of return, a garden of acclimatisation—at once a refuge and a realm of imagination.
“The J1 has a bright future.”
A magical, exhilarating place, preserved and respected in its own inherent qualities.
To protect J1 as one would a treasure; to reveal it through an admiring gaze that respects its architecture and its history; and to reinforce its qualities through a few carefully coordinated interventions that affirm its identity as much as its new functions—this is the challenge we want to take on.