Location: Marsiglia, France.

Architect: Corinne Vezzoni & associes.

The Mucem Conservation and The Source Centre (CCR) was built on a brownfield site in La belle de mai, Marseille, as part of the city’s cultural development. The architectural practice of Corinne Vezzoni and partners/AURA won the competition to design the building in 2004. The CCR is a monolithic structure made of rough concrete, with a simple volume that is easily identifiable from a passing train. The building houses more than 7000 m² of modern reserves, laid out on three floors, under the appropriate preventative preservation standards. The CCR is the first cultural amenity built and financed under the public-private partnership procedure (PPP), with Icade responsible for financing, building, and maintaining the building, and the government paying an annual fee or rent for the period of the contract. At the end of the partnership contract, the state recovers full ownership of the building.

Photo credit: David Huguenin.