LIN.ROBBE.SEILER: The Global Fund Headquarter, Geneva - best architects 23

LIN.ROBBE.SEILER

The Global Fund Headquarter, Geneva

best architects 23

office/administrative buildings

Place

Geneva, Switzerland

Studio

www.lrs.ch

Photos

Joël Tettamanti

Description

Compact and articulated, the new headquarters of the Global Fund rises among the trees, highlighting the urban and landscape-oriented setting of the Route de Ferney. The building’s folded contours free it from its roadside position and enhance its association with the United Nations Park. The geometry of the volume produces a perception of facets that gradually reveal the building to passers-by, blurring the scale of the built volume. The overall configuration consists of three wings connected in the centre by a circulation and service area. On the ground floors, all semi-public and representative functions, including the entrance, seminar rooms, auditorium, cafeteria and library, run along a path that opens broadly onto the various surrounding landscapes. The upper seven levels house offices in three wings, which may be divided according to needs and organisational structures. The architectural style is characterised by a façade of generous windows, structured by imposing anodised aluminium visual barriers. These ensure the link between interior and exterior, while bringing privacy to workstations and programmes facing the street. The slightly diagonal vertical blades and reflective anodised material make the building distinctive, with a changeable aspect that responds to its surroundings, lighting and movements.