The architect Stefano Boeri titled his work "La Villa", as he sees the villa as a typical Mediterranean architectural type. The building, which resembles a console or protractor 19 m high, will be erected on the J4 pier on the border of the Old Harbor of Marseille. Its protruding part will reach a length of 40 m, which is a world record for such structures. It will be located next to Fort Saint-Jacques and the future Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations by architect Rudy Ricciotti, which, like the Regional Center, is part of the development program of Marseille as the center of the entire Mediterranean basin “Euroméditerranée”.
The new building will be "located on the border of the sea and land." Its two lower tiers will be completely under water, and their windows will allow visitors to watch the ships passing over their heads. There will be a convertible auditorium with 700 seats, a media library and art workshops.
The first "above-water" floor will house a hall for temporary exhibitions, a cafe and a bookstore. The upper four levels will occupy exhibition halls, conference and seminar rooms, the administrative part and - at the very top - a restaurant-observation deck.
The side facades of the building will be fully glazed, the rest of the walls will be faced with artificial stone, lined with asymmetric window openings.
According to the politicians who conceived the construction of the Center and the entire Euroméditerranée program, it will become a symbol of the culture of the new Mediterranean, which will replace the current situation, when the countries of this region are divided by numerous political and economic contradictions.
