LIN.ROBBE.SEILER
The Global Fund Headquarter, Geneva
best architects 23
office/administrative buildings
Place
Geneva, Switzerland
Studio
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.