Central offices for UIT, Geneva

UIT
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ground floor plan | standard floor plan
axonometric view
longitudinal section | bioclimatic stratergies

Central offices for UIT, Geneva

The identity of the building responds both to the different functional conditions of its spaces – from large public rooms to administrative and office spaces – and to certain considerations of urban scale. The building presents a hybrid typology, halfway between a bar and a tower, between an equine body and a human body.

It is a wise centaur, Chiron, who shelters under his legs enough space for Aquiles – UIT – to evolve and educate himself firmly.

The new headquarters of UIT is vertical, but it is not a tower, is horizontal, but it is not a bar, it has big legs, but it is not a horse, it is intelligent, but it is not a human. It is a hybrid architecture that accommodates horizontal public spaces with large doors near the ground, and also accommodates small-scale work spaces near the sky. Between these spaces, a large structure that is both roof and basement, and that includes in one level the demands that come from the upper and lower part: technical installations and natural lighting.

This building is an urban object, which finds its shape and place in relation to the shape and place of its neighboring objects: the Place des Nations and the Varembé street, the CICG, the WIPO tower, the old ITU tower and the Montbrilliant building.

Location Geneva, Switzerland
Client UIT
Architects Burgos & Garrido Arquitectos
FRPO Rodriguez & Oriol Arquitectos
Design team Matilde Lorenzo, Francisco Díaz, Jaime Hortal, Guillermo Fernández
Competition date 2017