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Urban Utopias

by Milena Radoman
Monaco has inspired many architects to think up utopian projects that explode with surprises.

In 2013 Monacopolis, the New National Museum
of Monaco showcased the architecture and
urbanisation of the Principality by combining
archives and works that, in many instances,
had never been shown before...
After the Second World War, Monaco,
confronted with the problem of insufficient
land to build on, set out in search of new urban
solutions. Among the utopian proposals from © Yona Friedman, Photo : NMNM / Mauro Magliani & Barbara Piovan
the 1960’s was Yona Friedman’s La Venise
monégasque, a suspended, transparent bridge-
city. Paul Maymont designed an extension Manfredi Nicoletti
project called Thalassa. “To allow the city to Fontvieille : Monaco, ville satellite, 1966 (projet non réalisé)
expand, he imagined a new line on the horizon Photographie du plan d’ensemble, tirage gélatino-argentique à développement sur papier
of Larvotto Bay: an atoll of artificial islets in Collection NMNM, n°2004.7.9, don de M. Manfredi Nicoletti
concentric semicircles, pushing back the In the center of the island, a lagoon can Grimaud, the idealistic layout of a “Provençal
boundaries,” explains art historian Anne-Marie accommodate ships coming to the Principality.” Venice”. Unfortunately, the plans were hit by
Zucchelli . The architect drew his inspiration Over the course of decades numerous other the recession of the 90’s,” observes Jean-
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from Japan, where he lived, and had proposed projects saw the light of day: La Ville Satellite Philippe Hugron. And the they weren’t the
the construction of lightweight megastructures and the Marinarium by Manfredi Nicoletti, only ones to suffer the same fate. In 2007
in the form of pyramids floating on submerged who designed the Marina Baie des Anges in a number of “star architects”, including
platforms for Tokyo Bay... Villeneuve-Loubet, Le Centre de l’Homme et some Pritzker Prize winners (Frank Gehry,
Also in the 1960‘s, Edouard Albert worked with de la Mer by Jean Nouvel and the Public Park Christian de Portzamparc, Rem Koolhaas,
Captain Cousteau on the design of an “artificial and Residences by Emilio Ambasz. Daniel Libeskind, Arata Isozaki, Norman
island” and a marine district, “two of the most Among the proposals that aborted were plans Foster, Jacques Rougerie ... ) took part in an
astonishing projects of his career”, according to “extend the extension” of Fontvieille by international competition for a new 15-hectare
to architectural historian Sébastien Cherruet . François Spoerry, known for his lagooned town district reclaimed from the sea. Completely
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“The submerged section takes the form of a of Port Grimaud in the Var. “In a context where crazy projects were swept away by the 2008
pentagon inscribed in a circle 200 metres people mistrusted grandiose schemes, but also financial crisis.
in diameter. Above the water, the habitable in keeping with the post-modern momentum,
parts are composed of dodecahedrons (...) Fontvieille II was to have adopted, like Port *Monacopolis, Architecture, urbanism and urbanisation in
Monaco, achievements and projects 1858-2012. NMNM.

© Yona Friedman, Photo : NMNM / Mauro Magliani & Barbara Piovan © Jean Nouvel / ADAGP Paris, Photo : NMNM / Mauro Magliani & Barbara Piovan

Jean Nouvel
Yona Friedman Concours d’idée d’Architectures. Conception d’un immeuble de standing en Principauté de
La Venise monégasque, variante du projet 1958-1960 en 2006 (projet non réalisé) Monaco (projet non réalisé), 2012
Blanc correcteur sur carte postale d’édition Maquette en carton et papier
Collection NMNM, n°2006.13.4 Collection Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, n°2013.7.1, don de Fine Properties Monte-Carlo

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