LE QUARTIER DE LA COTE SAINTE-CATHERINE

Long before the buildings of the Côte Sainte-Catherine project, vineyards occupied the hillside from the 12th to the 19th century. The first buildings were constructed as early as 1964 and were a response to the housing crisis caused by the "baby boom" after the Second World War. This complex
is subject to a new design plan that promotes egalitarian housing as advocated by
Le Corbusier.
From the 1950s onwards, the large housing estates experienced a major boom due to the appearance of mechanical means of transport and the urgent need to create decent housing. Optimising the city's space thus became essential for organised development, and in 1953 Mayor Pierre Marizier had an urban plan adopted which would later include the Côte Sainte-Catherine project. The project was entrusted to the architect and urban planner Lanfranco Virgili, a student of Le Corbusier. Major earthworks were carried out to make the site viable. The colours encourage horizontality, which, combined with the low height of the buildings, allows the architecture to be integrated with nature. The spaces are organized in a compartmentalized manner according to function, such as the hierarchization of the traffic network according to the number of visitors. The living rooms in the dwellings are south-facing so as to give priority to sunlight. Construction in small units is therefore necessary to meet these needs, which aim to improve comfort and daily life. Around the buildings, green spaces (also called leisure areas) are established in significant proportion: 15 m² per inhabitant in 1975. Numerous infrastructures are included in the project, such as the shopping centre, the
social, school groups, etc. The location of the hospital is also planned from the outset
of the program.

DATAtourisme France