homu + Sizhou Yang
ITU HQ
location: Geneva, Switzerland
year: 2017
status: Competition
client: International Telecommunications Union HQ
program: Offices, conference rooms
GFA: 21,700 m2
budget: n/a
team: Lucia Zamponi, Filippo Nanni
collaborators:
Architecture / Sizhou Yang Ha-ha.archi
The International Telecommunications Union headquarter in Geneva occupy today three different and separated buildings. The project aims to create a new complex through the connection with the existing Montbrillant building, the only one to be preserved. The link is built through the void with a sequence of patios, outdoor spaces for the offices, the meeting rooms and for the cafeteria at the lower levels. The volume, following the program interior distribution into departments, is broken in four differents elements to reduce the visual impact of the building. Through this operation the existing building become the natural conclusion of the project on the east side. The main entrance is located on the lower ground floor, from rue de Varembé, and provides direct access to the basement cafeteria and the conference rooms. The double height hall connects to the upper ground floor which gives access to ITU staff from the Place des Nations. From upper hall it is possible to access the thematic area whose visit ends on the terrace of the planted garden.