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44 STRUCTURE AS ARCHITECTURE▲ 3.47 Hôtel du Département, Marseilles, France, Alsop & Störmer, 1994. Office blockbehind the Delibératif.structural supports as possible and an appearance of ‘fine lace floatingabove the train’. 12Contrasting geometries between architectural and structural forms,and even between structural forms within the same building, are evidentat the Hôtel du Département (Regional Government Centre),Marseilles (Fig. 3.47). The project can be read as an amalgamation of atleast four distinct architectural forms – two slab office-blocks linked bya transparent atrium, and two exterior elongated tubular forms. One,the Delibératif or council chambers, is free-standing while the Presidentialoffices sit above the higher office block.The most obvious contrast between forms occurs within the first threestoreys of the office blocks where exposed three-storey X-columnsalign longitudinally along each side. They visually dominate the lowerstoreys, both on the exterior where they are painted blue, and in theatrium where they are white. One reviewer describes them thus: ‘theX-shaped concrete pilotis line up one after each other, their unexpectedgeometries ricocheting through the glazed atrium like sculptures byBarbara Hepworth, Frank Stella or the Flintstones’. 13 While their structuralform does not relate to any other architectural qualities within theproject, they function as transfer structures for gravity loads. They supportcolumns located on a 5.4 m office module at third floor level andabove and extend to a 10.8 m grid at ground floor level that is suitablylarge for basement car parking beneath. The architects deliberatelyexpose the dramatic X-columns on the exterior by moving the building