I have written about Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille many times before on the blog. It is one of the most influential multi-unit buildings of the 20th century. For better and for worse, it inspired a generation of architects. But up until this afternoon, I had yet to actually see it in person. Now that I have, here are 3 takeaways.

The corridors throughout the building were thought of as “streets” in a vertical village. Because of this, each street had a mailbox and each front door came equipped with an elaborate delivery system. The large curvy thing pictured above was for general deliveries (mostly food I’m guessing). And the smaller door below was for ice block deliveries (i.e. refrigeration). In both cases, these doors could be accessed from inside the kitchen.

The two “streets” in the middle of the building were dedicated to commercial uses. And by being in the middle of the building, they were equidistant from residents living either above or below. I was told that when the building first opened in the 1950s, these streets were actually quite successful — filled with everything from bakeries to grocery stores. So you can imagine people running deliveries up and down to the other streets. But that quickly fell off as the retailing landscape developed in Marseille and in France. Today, this portion of the building houses mostly offices, art galleries, and specialty boutiques. Though there remains a widely-used 21-room hotel (pictured above).

To fully appreciate what the Cité Radieuse meant for housing in France, you kind of have to imagine what the rest of its stock was like at that time. The introduction of duplex and dual aspect units with modern kitchens and bathrooms and with views of the sea, represented meaningful progress at the time. But it is interesting to see how much ceiling heights have changed over the years. They’re really low here — well under 8 feet. And that is probably its greatest Achilles’ heel today.

If ever you happen to find yourself in Marseille, I would encourage a visit to the Cité Radieuse. Many of the things we do today started in this building. And there are some other ideas here that might also be worth bringing back.

I have written about Koto a few times before (check here and here). They design and fabricate beautiful modular homes and cabins that are designed to connect you back to nature.

One location where you can already find these cabins is on Fritton Lake, which is about 2 hours and 45 minutes outside of London. The way it works is that you buy a plot of land in the Fritton Lake community and then you choose which Koto home you would like.

There are two models available -- Ki and Miru -- and they can be customized as either 2 or 3-bedroom cabins. Apparently it then takes somewhere between 4 and 6 months for your new cabin to be fabricated and delivered to site.

Prefabrication is, of course, not a new idea. But it does feel like we are finally starting to see some meaningful traction. As recent as 2016, only about 2% of new single-family homes constructed in the US were prefab or modular.

But today it's perhaps easy to imagine a world where only the top end of the market builds on-site and custom. Koto is also evidence that these homes can be just as, if not more, beautiful and sustainable.

FYI: The Koto team is having an "open day" on Saturday, October 1, 2022 at Fritton Lake. If you happen to be in the area and would like to check out the cabins (and do things like swim in the lake), drop them a note to book a spot.

Image: Koto

This Philadelphia Inquirer article is behind a paywall, but I can tell you that it speaks to the city's increasing use of modular construction for infill apartment buildings:

Building modularly can save 20% on total construction costs, he said. Projects can be constructed in half the time, and rental revenue comes in sooner. Workers build apartments in pieces in a factory as others lay the foundation. Factory work doesn’t have to pause for inclement weather.

Alterra Property Group has found that modular construction is cost- and time-effective when it builds between 100 and 500 units and between four and six stories. Under that, building on-site is more efficient, Addimando said. Above that, builders can run up against building code restrictions.

Consider this recently completed project, called LVL North:

• 1.5 acre site

• Site acquired in February 2020

• Construction commenced in June 2020 (was it already entitled?)

• Over 500,000 square feet

• 7 storeys

• 410 market-rate apartments

• Two levels of commercial spaces

• Over 300 parking spaces in a two-level below-grade parking structure

• Construction completed in 24 months (it's currently being leased up)

I am impressed by how quickly this was erected. Here in Toronto, it would likely take more than 24 months just to get through the rezoning process. Granted, a site this big in a central location next to transit would also likely beget multiple tall buildings.

But this form and scale of housing seems to be working for Philly. It is allowing the city to both build quickly and to experiment with emerging construction methods.