A unicorn for fans of Le Corbusier’s influential brutalism, a duplex in the Swiss architect’s 1952 Cité Radiuse complex in Marseille‘s 8th arrondissement has come to market with Architecture de Collection. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit, listed with Unesco in 2016 along with the rest of the building, occupies 100sqm over two levels, and looks out over the city from two balconies.

One of the most influential buildings of the mid 20th century — not only by Le Corbusier but in the brutalist genre as a whole — Cité Radiuse sits in a historic residential quarter, in easy reach of the old city centre, the chic seaside and the dramatic coastal park Les Calanques. In such idyllic environs, Le Corbusier sought to design a utopian scheme, with all of life’s necessities at hand. The building’s shops, café, hotel, nursery, solarium and gallery still exist, along with an open-air theatre and pool on the sculptural rooftop terrace.

By and large the apartment conforms to his ideals of function over form. The main level has a living-dining area and a 5sqm open kitchen designed by Charlotte Perriand, a longtime Corbusier collaborator, who was influenced by the avant-garde Frankfurter Küche designed by Margaret Schütte-Lihotzky in 1928 (the cabinets here were replaced in the 1970s). The interior staircase is a Jean Prouvé design in lightweight metal, with solid-oak steps reminiscent of a ship’s gangway ladder. It leads to the private en suite sleeping quarters, themselves designed by Perriand.

The decor of the current owner is deeply inspired by Le Corbusier’s use of colour. The architect applied primary-coloured panels to doors and walls inside and on the exterior. This particular duplex, a Type E category, is asking 495,000 euros.

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