Complete renovation of an old townhouse orchestrated by JoBe Architecture and ARCHIK to create an open and friendly living space, turned towards natural light.

Target

At the bend of a steep alley in the heart of the typical Vauban district, an old townhouse evokes the Marseille of yesteryear. On this playground, the will of the renovation duo was to create an open living space, turned towards natural light and inviting to conviviality. For an art of living à la marseillaise.

Course of action

The intention was to give this townhouse, with its succession of small, narrow, dark rooms, a Mediterranean flair as well as a functionality suited to urban family life. To enlarge the house and offer an isolated and suspended parental space, an attic mezzanine was created above the living room. The new floor plan is distributed over 4 levels of living space, with an aerial staircase as a common thread.

Achievement

The interior charm of the house echoes the Mediterranean way of life, with its raw and mineral materials in warm tones and its sand-colored resin floor.

On the first floor, the objective was to create a functional and comfortable entry space for daily use. The concrete staircase, the backbone of the house, provides direct access to the living areas.

The second floor offers two bedrooms and a children’s playroom with artist’s frescoes, adorned with cream curly carpeting, as well as a pleasant bathroom in total terracotta look where a tiled niche welcomes the bathtub.

The heart of the house is discovered through a terracotta cloister. A large bay window in freijo wood opens the living room on the terrace and its pond, letting the sun fill the living room. On the other side, the open kitchen offers a terracotta tiled island and a recycled plastic worktop in beige tones.

The climb ends with the master suite. A beautiful attic room with its adjoining shower room entirely tiled with grey ceramic, including a white matte pedestal sink.

Outdoor

The outdoor space has been cleared and landscaped to bring together all the functions of an outdoor space in a small area. A pool, a dining area and masonry benches invite you to relax. In the background, planters give rhythm to the whole and break the verticality of this space located at the back of the house.

A stylish renovation with a singular character, inviting to conviviality.

  • Crédits photosFlorian Touzet
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Before …

A contemporary renovation that respects the special soul of this beautiful 110 m2 flat in the heart of the Old Port of Marseille.

Target

To give this typical Old Port flat a new lease of life by revitalising and brightening it up.

Course of action

The idea was to rebalance the volumes of the place and to redefine the living rooms. The idea was also to create a work space that could become a spare bedroom, while keeping the beautiful light provided by the four windows.

The renovation and decoration of the flat was designed in several stages, in order to trace the eclectic career of its occupants, mixing contemporary pieces and travel objects.

Achievement

Changing the volumes of the kitchen was the first thing to be done in order to remodel the living room, to integrate a lounge and a dining area. Unifying the ceiling by sanding the beams (former galley masts) allowed them to regain their original clarity and softness. The challenge was to maintain the feeling of space without losing the clarity, thanks to the glass roof and steel joinery, separating the office from the living room. All of this was achieved by maintaining a colour palette that harmonised with the clay tiles on the floor, by creating a dialogue between the furniture and by creating beautiful perspectives thanks to an XXL mirror with generous curves.

In the night space, a parental suite has been designed, full of softness and fantasy. The bathroom of the suite was entirely made to measure, with gold marble tiles highlighted by a delicately powdered pink that is accentuated by the copper tapware. The choice of a thick, light-coloured carpet brings to the whole the luxury touch of the grand hotels and an unparalleled voluptuousness.

A warm and delicate glow, revealed by the beautiful light of the South.

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Before …

In Boulogne, 125 m2 of open-plan offices have been given a new purpose: that of a tailor-made home.

Target

For this new space created from scratch, the objective was to give pride of place to perspectives and to open up. To close off rooms without appearing to do so, and to recreate each space in a flat.

Course of action

The desire to bring warmth to this industrial space dictates the use of oak as a guiding line throughout the flat. A real trompe-l’oeil that hides the classic office codes, hides the ducts, and groups the water rooms.

Achievement

The decompartmentalisation of the spaces to keep the loft spirit is underlined by the made-to-measure joinery which draws the different living spaces. Oak dresses the edges of the bay windows, creating a frame, and is found as a metaphor on the bathroom cabinet. A red staircase in folded metal created by the designer Axel Chay provides access to the terrace. The office area is delimited by the wall shelves which overflow onto the living space, like a fusion of spaces.

The only water column, a real constraint of the flat, obliged to gather each water room in the same neuralgic point. A camouflaged cube was then created behind the bookcase, opening through a back door onto a bathroom with toilet. The kitchen is juxtaposed with this on the one hand and the bathroom of the master bedroom on the other. The Leicht kitchen has a stone worktop and a grey-green waxed concrete floor that highlights the colour chosen for the cube, the centerpiece of this renovation.

The ceiling rails were retained, while the original parquet floor was sanded and glazed while retaining its natural colour. The two structural posts that weighed down the space are now adorned with striated wood, allowing them to disappear throughout the living area.

A real trompe-l'oeil that hides the classic codes of the office.

  • Crédits photosGabrielle Voinot
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Before…

From a beautiful bourgeois apartment in its juice stopped in time, Caroline made a warm family apartment. She likes comfortable and thoughtful interiors, and he likes to mix styles and eras. The result is an eclectic apartment with obvious character, where colors and inhabitants clash happily.

Target

Modernize the circulation, bring back light and rethink the spaces for a family and friendly life conducive to the reception.

Course of action

Modify the organization of the apartment to bring light into all the rooms, play with the colors to structure the spaces, move the kitchen to make it a real living space.

Achievement

The whole organization of the apartment had to be modified to modernize the circulation, and all the networks rethought. The U-shaped floor plan allows for different exposures of the rooms, and the choice was made to work with one color per room, with the colors varying according to the time of day. The entrance, originally blind, now serves as a small office and library area, lit by a glass opening onto the living room. In enfilade, the kitchen has taken place in the former reception room. The kitchen has become a convivial room, with a dining area. The family bathroom replaces the old kitchen. Deliberately kept white, it is in the cement tiles that the color found its place, bringing the necessary fantasy.

©Sophie Tom & Fabien Sans

En résulte un appartement éclectique au caractère évident !

  • Crédits photosSophie Tom & Fabien Sans
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Renovation of a typical apartment of the 60s. Bright, located on a whole floor at the corner of 2 streets, it originally had 3 bedrooms, a shower room, a bathroom and a kitchen. Bought by a couple, one bedroom was removed to create instead a beautiful living space.

Target

To give character to an apartment that didn’t have much. Favouring a large living space, very luminous, where the various pieces of furniture of the owners, keen on design of the 50s and 60s, will be highlighted. Renovate the whole, in its juice, with short perspectives, and with dark and not very functional rooms of water.

Course of action

Destructure to restructure. Open up the spaces as much as possible, but restructure them by using cross-cutting woodwork, giving onto both the hallway and the living room for example, or onto the hallway and the kitchen. Re-open and lengthen the perspectives, bet on white (the majority of the woodwork) and on pretty materials with soft, subtle tones: light terrazzo for the kitchen, slightly marbled tiles for the shower room, matt white tiles, almost chalky for the large bathroom…

Achievement

Except for the 2 bedrooms and bathrooms, all the partitions have been removed. For the most part, they were replaced by custom-made woodwork. For example, the wall of the corridor was replaced by a large bookcase, located in exactly the same place, but which lets the light pass. A lot of work was done on the parquet floor, which was entirely renovated and completely redone in some rooms where there was none left. The kitchen was enlarged to the maximum, with the same principle of “crossing” furniture giving on the corridor. The two bedrooms were optimized by creating custom dressings at the head of the bed. A very graphic joinery work marks the entrance, and gives a strong personality, in contrast to the rest of the essentially white joinery.

A renovation that gives pride of place to materials and light.

LE QUARTIER

Périer – Delibes

An extension of the very chic Carré d'Or, Périer is one of the most sought-after neighborhoods...
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Before …

Without fundamentally modifying the volumes of the apartment, the work consisted above all in a refreshment in all points of view (kitchen, painting, parquet floor, joineries), in order to offer to the purchasers an apartment which resembles them: an apartment with character, at the same time eclectic and audacious.

Target

To modernize an apartment in the Cité Radieuse while preserving its soul, drawing on the work of Le Corbusier.

Course of action

To provide a setting for the numerous works of art and designer furniture of the owners, great art lovers.

Achievement

The layout has been completely redesigned to highlight and stage the couple’s works. The kitchen has been completely redesigned to be more suitable in terms of functionality, while at the same time redoing some of Le Corbusier’s and Charlotte Perriand’s characteristic kitchen elements (high cupboards, reminder of the wooden handles on the kitchen fronts, etc.).
The range of colors used in the apartment is also directly inspired by the range of paint that Le Corbusier used in Bordeaux for the Cité Frugès, whether for the kitchen, or for certain volumes that have been repainted in pink, ivory white, almond green and red.

A precise renovation offering the best possible showcase for pieces and works of art!

LE QUARTIER

Sainte-Anne

Sainte-Anne is a typical residential area of the "city of 111 villages".
  • Crédits photosOlivier Amsellem
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L’ avant …

Côté nuit, trois chambres se partagent une salle d’eau contemporaine, et de nombreux rangements intégrés.
Une buanderie et une cave complètent ce bien.
Un appartement intégré dans un complexe architectural et perché dans le ciel marseillais.

Mario Fabre

Mario Fabre était un architecte français formé à l’École Régionale d’Architecture de Marseille, diplômé en 1960. Il a collaboré avec Bernard Laville à partir de 1963, réalisant plusieurs projets immobiliers de prestige pour le promoteur Georges Laville, dont la résidence Château Sec. Fabre a toujours mis l’accent sur la qualité des espaces, le confort des usagers et l’attention au contexte, même dans des projets de grande envergure. Il est décédé en 2024, laissant un héritage architectural notable.

Bernard Laville

Fils de Georges Laville, promoteur-constructeur influent à Marseille, Bernard Laville a suivi sa formation à l’École Régionale d’Architecture de Marseille dans les années 1950. Il a obtenu son diplôme en 1961 et a travaillé dans diverses agences avant de s’associer avec Mario Fabre en 1963. Ensemble, ils ont conçu plusieurs opérations immobilières de prestige, dont la résidence Château Sec. Après la dissolution de leur association en 1969, Bernard Laville a poursuivi sa carrière en réalisant des projets tels que le parc Berger et le Grand Pavois.