Renzo Piano imagines an incredible building on the sea in Monaco
This curiosity is mainly explained by the extraordinary dimensions of the project and its influence on an artificial ground. This new building, baptized Le Renzo, has everything it takes to arouse interest: this 35,000 m2 whose layout evokes the shape of a fragmented ship, brings together 50 housing units and seems to float on the sea. To give it shape, there was no architect more suitable than Renzo Piano, awarded the prize Pritzker, who designed a long list of nautical structures. “Architecture that endures always tells a seductive story, observes the 84-year-old architect, founder of the Renzo Piano Workshop. For example, a house is not just a roof or a shelter, it’s a dialogue between those who live in it and the different periods that marked the history of the territory before they arrived. Our job was to tell that story. » In the case of Monaco, this sentence is made, as long as the old fishing village has become a haven for the wealthy of this world.
The dizzying economic growth of the city-state has been accompanied by an evolution in the demand and tastes of its citizens, without however the design of the apartments having evolved in accordance with the latest Cree requirements. A quick search on the internet gives you an idea of the monotony of homes for sale in aging towers, with a small floor area. “There is an increased demand for open plans with more luxurious outdoor space and amenities,” says Guy-Thomas Levy-Soussan, managing director of SAM L’Anse du Portier, the company that manages the development and financing of Mareterra (which works closely with Patrice Pastor, the founder of the project and one of the nine private shareholders). “The prince, as well as the founders of Mareterra, saw it as an opportunity to diversify the residential offer by attracting new buyers, continues Guy-Thomas Lévy-Soussan, but beyond that, this project will enrich the public space in Monaco. »
Architecture always reacts to the limits of the environment to the service due it sets itself. Few challenges are as great as waterfront access in Monaco. Mareterra could easily have reserved this portion of space for the more affluent, but the prince decided otherwise. “The objectives of the various extensions of the territory of Monaco on the sea have varied over time, observe Prince Albert II, but I am personally assured that the Mareterra project meets Monaco’s real estate needs while respecting the environment in which it is located. The development is designed in a sustainable way, respecting the environment and the quality of life, in order to offer a natural extension of our territory. » By ceding nearly 8,500 square meters of seafront to the public (including around 600 meters of cycle paths), Mareterra implements a cardinal principle of architecture: to make life more beautiful not only for those who live in the building but also to everyone else.