Danish firm BIG unveils their newest design – a spiraling structure of steel and glass that juts down into the earth at La Vallée de Joux, Switzerland, for luxury watchmaker company Audemars Piguet.
BIG, along with HG Merz, Luchinger & Meyer and Muller Illien were commissioned by the company to design their newest flagship, which will also be an expansion of the company’s headquarters.
The 25,800-sf pavilion will house the company’s museum, called Maison des Fondateurs. According to Jasmine Audemars, president of Audemars Piguet’s Board of Directors, the museum will be “a place for people to enjoy and share the passion of watchmaking.”
The spiral shape is a storytelling device for the company’s history; as visitors walk down, they are guided through a linear sequence of spaces and events through lounges, galleries and workshops, until they are eventually led to the heritage building in a workshop where the company originated.
In addition to the pavilion, the building will include an underground guest house with windows camouflaged under grassy hills, providing views over the Vallée de Joux.
Bjarke Ingels, founding partner of BIG, comments on the design: “Watchmaking like architecture is the art and science of invigorating inanimate matter with intelligence and performance. It is the art of imbuing metals and minerals with energy, movement, intelligence and measure – to bring it to life in the form of telling time. Unlike most machines and most buildings today that have a disconnect between the body and the mind, the hardware and the software, for the Maison des Fondateurs we have attempted to completely integrate the geometry and the performance, the form and the function, the space and the structure, the interior and the exterior in a symbiotic hole”.
“La Maison des Fondateurs not only symbolises the deep connection between the brand and its origins but also its spirit of independence and avant-garde,” Audemars adds.
Related Stories
| Jun 8, 2012
Chestnut Hill College dedicates Jack and Rosemary Murphy Gulati complex
Casaccio Yu Architects designed the 11,300-sf fitness and social complex.
| Jun 7, 2012
Waterline exhibition displays visions for re-thinking the Chicago River
The designs of Waterline showcase why the Chicago River should once again be considered the city’s most important asset and sets the stage for increased awareness, education and reinvention of the River.
| Jun 7, 2012
WDMA and FMA to affiliate and integrate operations
Over the coming months both organizations will begin the process of formalizing the details of the agreement for final approval by both organizations, with the formal change expected to take effect in January 2015.
| Jun 7, 2012
Craig joins Cannon Design as associate principal
Craig will work closely with the firm's Corporate/Commercial Interiors leadership to help facilitate initiatives that strengthen awareness around workplace innovation and offer counsel on strategic workplace decisions.
| Jun 7, 2012
Stantec publishes 2011 corporate Sustainability Report
Stantec's fifth annual Sustainability Report was prepared in accordance with the internationally recognized G3.1 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, developed by the Global Reporting Initiative.
| Jun 6, 2012
KPF designs tower for Yongsan IBD
The master plan, created by Studio Daniel Libeskind, is a dynamic urban environment containing contributions from 19 different architects practicing in diverse locations around the globe.
| Jun 6, 2012
SOM urges Chicago tenants to partner with landlords to cut energy use
Tenants can exceed building energy challenge targets recently announced by Mayor Emanuel.
| Jun 6, 2012
KLMK Group awarded contract with Parkland Health & Hospital System in Texas
KLMK will also provide planning guidance in all aspects of the project related to facility activation.
| Jun 5, 2012
Cannon Design joins forces with Peter Ellis New Cities
Peter Ellis will now lead Cannon Design's urban planning and city design practice in collaboration with the firm's executive leadership.
| Jun 5, 2012
Walker Parking opens office in Abu Dhabi
Walker has been in Abu Dhabi since May 2011 but in a temporary office suite.