ensa•m

Generous new architecture!

In central Marseille, a new institute is now welcoming architecture, landscaping and town-planning students. It has a unique approach to sharing perspectives on major environmental and societal issues, both now and in the future. 

The École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Marseille (ensa•m) has joined the new Institut méditerranéen de la Ville et des Territoires (IMTV) in its ultra-contemporary setting, a stone’s throw from the Saint-Charles train station. While it leaves behind the building designed by René Egger in 1967 that had been awarded the prestigious ACR label (Architecture contemporaine remarquable), and which is surrounded by nature on the Luminy campus, it has reconnected with its “genuine desire to return to the city”, underlines its director Hélène Corset-Maillard. While doing so, it underlines a geographical strategy with a unique convergence in France: from this September, the same site is also home to the École nationale supérieure de paysage Versailles-Marseille (ENSP-VM) and the Institut d’urbanisme et d’aménagement régional (IUAR). The three higher education establishments come together to benefit the greater Mediterranean region and to train future professionals, and they are all determined to showcase their know-how: “This proximity is ideal for working together and asserting our expertise. It will allow us to learn from each other to improve our understanding, to anticipate the world of tomorrow and take action that is best suited to dealing with contemporary issues.”

Nothing is set in stone!

The architecture of the place represents the connection between the three schools, which remain autonomous while benefiting from a shared centre with an exhibition forum, an experimentation hall, an amphitheatre, a library, a cafeteria, and much more. Their respective research laboratories are grouped together in a second building, while a third is reserved for workshops. An open-air outdoor network connects the various wings and floors. This training and research hub – designed to develop transdisciplinary partnerships – is now up and running. The spatial intelligence of the project also involves cutting-edge, low-tech technology (sound and light ambiance) and constant attention to the environment. Renewable energy is provided by the Marseille-based company Thassalia, which specialises in thalassothermy. This involves using sea water in the heating, air conditioning and hot water systems. Of these 12,000m², with an additional outdoor network spanning 6,000m², nothing is fixed and uses have the constant freedom to evolve. The place creates a new way to invest in these essential professions, whose very vocation is to make our daily living spaces more beautiful.

L’Ensa-Marseille forme des architectes à l’écoute des grands enjeux environnementaux contemporains dans leur dimension culturelle et sociale. Elle accueille des étudiants de toutes les régions françaises et près d’une cinquantaine de pays dans le cadre de nombreuses conventions.

Un projet porté par le Ministère de la Culture, avec le soutien financier de la Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, le Conseil départemental des Bouches-du-Rhône, Aix-Marseille-Provence Métropole et la ville de Marseille.

2 place Jules Guesde, 

13003 Marseille

Tél. 04 91 82 71 00

www.imvt.fr