Hôtel du département des Bouches-du-Rhône

At the time of the brief for the competition, the department council had its administrative functions dispersed over 23 locations, and the centralisation of these activities was a key element in the design considerations for the open competition, which took place in two stages.[6] Prior to the close of the competition, Alsop and Störmer's stage one proposal model was exhibited at the Arc-en-Rêve Centre d'Architecture, Bordeaux, in 1991,[7] with the final version with blue colouration, ceramic glaze cladding solution and resolved facade artwork, by Brian Clarke, was exhibited after its construction at The Mayor Gallery in London,[8] and the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York.

Construction was begun on the site, in Marseille's northern suburbs, in 1991, and was completed in 1994. The Hôtel du Département is the largest public building in Marseille.[9][10][11]

The building developed its visual identity through the design process; Clarke and Alsop's final version, submitted as the winning competition entry, shifted from an all-white to an all-blue scheme. The completed building is externally clad in blue-coloured glass, rendered through a novel technique of ceramic glazing devised by Clarke, to produce a 'skin of art' across the entire building; along the west elevation is a 1,200-square-metre (13,000 sq ft) linear composition by Clarke in bands of ceramic glaze screenprinted onto the panels of the facade.[12][13][14] The colour, which approximates Yves Klein blue, is cited by the architects as the portion of the design process that took the most time and consideration to resolve.