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Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse rooftop gym transformed into art space

   French designer Ora-�to is converting the famous Marseille roof
   terrace into a haven for contemporary art
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   rooftop of Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse
   Park in the sky … the rooftop of Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse in
   Marseille. Photograph: Mamo

   "Welcome to my place," says Ito Morabito, perched on the balustrade of
   the most famous rooftop of any 20th-century building. Behind the young
   French designer, concrete forms gleam in the midday Marseille sun: a
   great ventilation stack flares out like a sculptural vase; a paddling
   pool nestles beneath a classroom on stilts; children clamber on a
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   air. And now it has a new owner, with big ambitions.

   "This will be the reason people come to Marseille," says Morabito, who
   has never been one to shy away from big claims. Now 35, he was
   catapulted to fame 10 years ago when he designed a series of fake
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   "As soon as I heard it was on the market, I jumped on a train," says
   Morabito, who was born in Marseille, the son of jeweller Pascal
   Morabito, but now runs his studio from Paris. "I grew up knowing this
   building, so I couldn't resist that chance to own such an important
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   gym into an arts space, cafe and artists' residences, which will host a
   site-specific installation for four months over the summer each year.
   The project is christened Mamo – the "Marseille Modulor" – in a
   riff on Le Corbusier's system of measurement, and a cheeky inversion of
   New York's MoMA, which seems appropriate given how Ora-�to made his
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   workshops with architecture schools.

   Set to open in June as part of Marseille's 2013 Capital of Culture
   extravaganza, only time will tell whether the residents of the Cité
   Radieuse will find a contemporary arts space more useful than a gym, or
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