New Headquarters of Swatch S.A., Biel/Bienne

The project comprises three new buildings for the Omega and Swatch brands. The architect’s goal was to connect the three buildings with the element of wood, which relates to the local context of this particular site. From the point of view of construction, it is the best building material because of its precision. In addition, wood is the only renewable construction material. Furthermore, from the perspective of content, wood was the only choice because the city of Biel/Bienne is known for its School of Engineering for the Wood Industry, a leader in wood technology in Switzerland. The Swatch headquarters is a building with an open-plan layout, the segments of which are horizontally and vertically connected. The space is fully covered by an approximately 11,000 m² free-form type of roof made of wood. Each wooden element is unique and was created by means of a parametric design process. The Omega factory is a hybrid structure with wooden supports and floors and a concrete core. It is a wooden watchmakers’ workshop never seen before and meets the maximum standards for clean air and minimal floor vibrations. Except for the concrete ground floor, the Cité du Temps is a pure wood construction.

What makes this project one-of-a-kind?
The complexity of the freeform shell makes this project unique: Assembled out of 2’800 differently shaped façade elements integrated into a timber grid with double curved CNC-milled beams.