Innovative Architecture

Conceived and designed by the famous Parisian architect François Roche, the Centre for glaciology and geology will feature startlingly innovative architecture.

Resolutely modernist, constructed entirely from larch wood cut in the region, the building will feature cavities and spaces modelled after the bowls and cairns (manmade heaps of stones) that are found on glaciers.

The building will be within a prism shape, and consist of four alveolus-like spaces covered with complex shapes, connected by a staircase. The shaft of an elevator will constitute the second vertical element. Metallic meshing will reference the volumes and architectural style common to traditional buildings in the region. They will also serve to transfer vertical loads

More information about the architectural pilot study.

Models on display in Paris, Zürich and Basel

Two models of the Le Cairn building have been made. The first, made out of wood, was presented at the Pompidou Centre in Paris in 2002, in the context of an exhibition on the theme of ‘Non standard architecture'.

The second model, made of resin using the method of selective laser sintering (SLS), was put on display at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zürich in 2007. This model, together with a prototype of the building façade, was later displayed at the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel in 2008, in the context of an exhibition on ornamentation, ‘Ornament neu aufgelegt'.