Gros Bao Marseille by Neri&Hu: A Shanghai Alleyway in a French Port City
Gros Bao Marseille is an architectural conversation between Shanghai and a French Mediterranean port city. Neri&Hu has taken the spatial energy of the Shanghai longtang, a narrow residential lane where movement and everyday gathering overlap, as a starting point for the design of a three-level restaurant. The project occupies an existing building in central Marseille and joins the life of Cours Saint-Louis to that of Rue des Récolettes.
A lane cut through an existing building
Rather than present the restaurant as one self-contained room, the architects carve a route through the old structure. As guests move through the floors, they encounter different tables and dining settings. The circulation becomes part of the restaurant's social life, recalling the mixture of movement, commerce and interaction found in the urban lanes of Shanghai.
The project also depends on its location in Marseille. The historic stone enclosure remains an important presence, lending the interiors texture and a strong connection with their immediate setting. The longtang becomes a principle for organising space, not a literal decorative copy of a Chinese street.
Materials with different histories
Existing stone walls contrast with new steel framing, galvanized metal, white square ceramic tile and red linoleum. These robust materials suit a lively restaurant without losing the precision of the design. Each makes a different contribution: stone carries the memory of the old building, steel establishes a contemporary framework, and tile introduces a familiar functional surface at a human scale.
The furniture draws on the informal character of street dining through straightforward frames and table surfaces. Its utilitarian appearance prevents the restaurant from becoming overly formal. The spaces are visually varied, yet the repeated materials and details allow visitors to understand them as parts of one continuous environment.
Food, movement and the city
A restaurant is experienced over time, not in a single photograph. Here, the route through the building becomes a sequence of arrivals, changing views and opportunities to pause. Rather than separating circulation from occupation entirely, the architecture allows the two to interact. People moving upstairs and diners occupying different tables become part of the restaurant's collective atmosphere.
Gros Bao Marseille shows how an idea drawn from one city's domestic architecture can acquire new meaning in another place. The historic French building is not disguised, and the Shanghai reference is expressed through movement and sociability. The result is an interior that is culturally layered without becoming an exercise in themed decoration.
Project information and credits
Project: The Alleyway | Gros Bao Marseille. Address: 3 Cours Saint-Louis, 13001 Marseille, France. Interior design: Neri&Hu Design and Research Office. Area: approximately 387 m². Completed: April 2024. Photography: Pedro Pegenaute. Five distinct project photographs are included from the studio's official project archive, with Pedro Pegenaute named in the original files.
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