Port-Grimaud

The artificially constructed lagoon city on the French Riviera near St Tropez. In 1962 Spoerry made the first sketches for the project, which is based on the characteristic urban layout of the French Midi, with narrow streets, squares, arcades and vernacular-style houses. Into this scheme he integrated channels, quays and bridges to form a functional marina. Construction began in 1966, and the project was an immediate popular success, although the architectural press was more reserved, if not openly hostile: ‘Port Grimaud is the permanent celebration of boring deception