In Marseille, soon a patio to fill the “gaping hole” left by the tragedy of rue d’Aubagne

The death of eight people, all tenants, in this tragedy had shed harsh light on the problem of unsanitary housing in the second largest city in France where, without almost anyone being moved for decades, more than 40.000 people live in slums.

By imagining the future patio and the “resource place”, Linda Larbi, cousin of Chérif Zema, a 36-year-old Algerian father who died on November 5, 2018, confides: “We are approaching the trial and that allows us to say that this place will not remain gaping".

For the families, as for the local residents, it was hard to be "faced with this hollow tooth, desperately empty for five years", "life must return, (there must be) new local residents", pleads Virginie Vallier, who lives at 66 rue d'Aubagne, just opposite numbers 63, 65, 67 affected by the collapse.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Sophie Camard, the mayor of the 1st and 7th arrondissements, who participated in the creation of Printemps Marseille, a left-wing citizens' alliance which took the city from the right a year and a half after this tragedy , had difficulty, like others, in holding back her tears while presenting this “symbolic” project.

Franck Caro, general director of the Société Publique Locale d'Aménagement d'Intérêt National (SPLA-IN) Aix-Marseille-Provence, which was responsible for studying the project, speaks of a desire to put "a lot of 'humility, tenderness and gentleness' in this future place, construction of which will begin in spring 2025 for delivery hoped for at the end of 2025.

Anything but a sanctuary

There were months of consultation with the families of the victims, elected officials, associations and local residents. There was unanimity on the fact that there should be "no more emptiness" but some were reluctant to the idea of ​​rebuilding then, finally, emerged "a compromise on the idea of ​​a municipal resource place", says Sophie Camard.

The project proposed by the Baito firm was unanimously selected.

Very concretely, the passer-by will see a facade of only one floor, made of beige Beaulieu stone with large openings. Inside, there will be a modular structure made of Hautes-Alpes larch, making it possible to organize shows, meetings or host a solidarity kitchen. In front of the building, a Mediterranean patio with an urban nursery will provide a form of privacy, said architects Mathieu Menager and Maxime Sollier.

The space, the cost of which is estimated at 570.000 euros excluding taxes, may evolve depending on what is decided for the surrounding buildings, knowing that SPLA-IN Aix-Marseille-Provence has just acquired number 61.

There will also of course be a memorial part, the contours of which remain to be clarified. It will take place around a buttress, only the collapsed buildings remain.

“When it happened, we all wanted to get something back from our loved ones but we couldn't get anything back, it was as if everything had been taken away from us” and “effectively this remains of a column” is the he place where families gather, explains Liliana Lalonde, mother of Julien, one of the eight victims.

She is delighted that this place will not become a “sanctuary”. Like the mother of Simona Carpignano, a young woman from Puglia (southern Italy) who lived one floor above Julien's house: "For us, it will be like returning to Simona's house again."

“Death is not useless, if a life is saved thanks to it,” insists Liliana Lalonde, welcoming the preventive measures taken by the municipality since then, as soon as “we see a crack on a building” in Marseille.

Responsibilities for the collapse of these unsanitary buildings will be judged in Marseille from November 7 to December 18, with four legal and natural persons dismissed for involuntary manslaughter and involuntary injuries including Julien Ruas, then deputy mayor in charge of prevention and management. risks, when the city was still led by Jean-Claude Gaudin, Les Républicains mayor for 25 years.