In 2024, in the Saint Mauront district of Marseille’s 3rd arrondissement, architects Céline Teddé and Jérome Apack (AT architectes) renovated and transformed the former Médecins du Monde premises into a 51-unit emergency social housing complex. It’s a transformation project in tune with the times, at a time when the question “should we stop building” is on everyone’s lips, and when the 30th report by the Fondation pour le logement des défavorisés [Foundation for housing disadvantaged people], published at the start of 2025, estimates that 350,000 people are homeless, in accommodation or on the streets.

by Ethel Halimi

What are the issues involved in building emergency housing in Marseille?

Céline Teddé et Jérôme Apack : Marseille is a port city which, like all Mediterranean cities in this situation, has been shaped by migratory movements. This long tradition of welcome has made it a cosmopolitan city bursting with energy, and it is largely this cultural diversity that makes it so attractive. Some of our family members are part of this history. When they arrived in Marseille, they were able to seize the job opportunities on offer and integrate easily, without denying their culture. We are therefore particularly sensitive to uprooted people and the way in which the city should welcome them.

Today, the conditions are no longer the same. Work is scarce, and the city’s attractiveness and subsequent urban gentrification are weakening those who were already vulnerable. Following the collapse of buildings in the Noailles district [on 5 November 2019, two dilapidated buildings in the centre of Marseille collapsed, killing eight people. Ed.], housing policy is concentrating on substandard housing, which leaves little room for the issue of emergency shelter, even though the two issues actually exist side by side.

Emergency social housing must provide a dignified home for the most vulnerable groups. Although the residents are just passing through, they need to feel at home in their accommodation, which is part of a block of flats, which is itself part of a neighbourhood, and then part of a town. This sense of belonging to a place must be felt at every level, from the urban to the domestic. “Living” plays a fundamental role in integration. This raises the question of the quality of the home, but also the nature of its relationship with the outdoors.

The original building, designed by architect Yves Bentz for the Rhône-Poulenc company in the 1950s, has load-bearing facades clad in limestone.

You have just completed the transformation of a former 1950s office building into 51 emergency social housing units in the Saint Mauront district. What were the challenges of this project?

Our project management team was selected on the basis of a methodological and financial brief, without a preliminary project. The first step was to ascertain the feasibility of converting the building into housing. This involved a detailed architectural and technical diagnostic phase, which went beyond simply assessing the state of repair. We quickly established that the financial equilibrium of the project depended on the need for an extension. However, the original building, originally constructed by Marseille architect Yves Bentz for the Rhône-Poulenc company in the 1950s, had a heritage listing drawn up by the Bouches-du-Rhône Departmental Architecture and Heritage Unit, prohibiting any extensions or alterations to the façade. We therefore had to negotiate with the State, via the Direction Départementale des Territoires, which, aware of the social importance of the project, granted the extension we proposed: a single storey, designed in the architectural continuity of the existing building in order to meet the heritage requirements.

This type of project is usually made up of studio flats or a variation of T1s, with no more than an alcove for a child’s bed. This makes it difficult to design through-housing, for example. The specifications are very restrictive and leave little room for manoeuvre in terms of dimensions and finishing materials. What’s more, the cost of construction, based on the various subsidies provided by the client, is not negotiable. Add to this the housing standards, and it’s difficult to offer any spatial generosity, inside or out.

Using an existing building as a starting point is an opportunity to avoid these constraints. It also means that part of the budget can be focused on enhancing the building’s heritage or the quality of the materials used. For example, in this project, we used wood for the external joinery. Savings can also be made on the load-bearing structure, which can account for 30% to 40% of the cost of a new building, not to mention its carbon footprint. During the diagnostic phase, it emerged that the building had been constructed with intelligence and quality in mind. Originally designed for the industrial and tertiary activities of the Rhône-Poulenc company, it was later taken over by Médecins du Monde to provide shelter for the most vulnerable. Despite a number of successive transformations, the building’s construction system and floor heights are conducive to a change of use, as are its roof terrace on which an additional storey can be lightly added, large windows that open onto the surrounding urban landscape, stone cladding on the façade and a large service courtyard at the heart of the block. We also made a point of preserving the original staircase, naturally lit by glass paving stones and with travertine-covered steps.

Because every inhabitant is different, we wanted to bring singularity to the domestic scale. In this project, this is made possible by the characteristics of the existing building. The kitchen area is arranged differently depending on the situation. The living rooms have high ceilings, which in places reveal the floor beams. The large windows offer spectacular views of the trees on the boulevard, the open heart of the block, the urban landscape and the ballet of cars on the motorway in the distance.

On an urban scale, the extension takes the form of an attic on the roof, clad in stone identical to that of the existing building, with generous openings to match. In the communal areas, the mineral courtyard has been transformed into a garden, in which a former garage stall has been converted into a small multi-purpose room and bicycle storage area.

What are the strengths and challenges of rehabilitation in the construction of emergency housing?

As we were able to see during this project, the transformation of a heritage building into emergency housing generally offers more generosity than a decontextualised programme can provide. The challenge is also to maintain, as far as possible, the qualities that make up the identity of a building despite its changes of use. The real question, then, is how much can be done about pre-existing buildings. Beyond the question of emergency housing, we believe that we need to open the debate on the transformation of our built heritage. Unfortunately, we often find that the best way to solve a problem is to eliminate it… This is the case, for example, with ANRU operations, which in many situations have contributed to the demolition of quality housing that would undoubtedly have deserved a sympathetic look at its capacity for change. The investment would have been the same as rebuilding in a different urban form, but the environmental cost would have been lower, not to mention the sometimes surprising attachment of residents to their dilapidated homes. Pressured by the political agenda and the profit motive, some developers and still too many promoters are acting in this way, when the sense of history obliges us to look at this heritage carefully, as a means of minimising our carbon footprint and as an opportunity to change current housing standards.

To achieve this, the diagnosis stage – structural, health, economic and social – is fundamental. Often carried out upstream of the design contract and not very highly valued from a financial point of view, the diagnosis still often eludes architects, who alone, thanks to the project tool, are able to give an opinion on the potential and possible programme for converting a building into a new use. A few years ago, in this very magazine, we praised the potential for change of use of the type of apartment building in Marseille commonly known as the “3-window”. Since then, we’ve been involved in a number of conversion projects. Our practice has led us to question this process on a regular basis, and the observation is recurrent: moving away from the conceptual and constructive logic of the original project multiplies the technical and economic difficulties as well as the hazards. We agree that not everything can be transformed. Total removal or deconstruction is sometimes necessary. Nevertheless, to use a rather facile metaphor with emergency housing, we must collectively give ourselves the means to offer our built heritage a new chance.

Find out more about emergency architecture projects in the latest issue of AA "War and Peace", available on our online shop.