Designing a museum in the sublime form of a shimmering peel of glass unfurling from a mountain in a tiny Swiss village is one thing. But, as architect Bjarke Ingels now knows, actually building it in the remote Jura Mountains is most definitely another.
Yet six years after his practice BIG won the competition to design the Audemars Piguet Founder’s House Museum in the Swiss village of Le Brassus, the doors are finally open. Created in association with museum experts HG Merz, engineers Lüchinger+ Meyer, and landscape specialists Muller Illien, BIG’s poetic glass swirl exists despite the fact that construction was predestined to be difficult: whipped by mean north-east winds, temperatures in the Vallée de Joux can fall severely in the long winter months. The glass used in the project was designed to withstand extreme temperature fluctuations, but also proved so tough that it is load-bearing enough to negate the need for other walls.
‘It’s a complicated building. At first, we thought it was crazy, then we just thought, let’s do it,’ says a smiling Jasmine Audemars, chairwoman of the board of directors at Audemars Piguet. ‘We make complicated watch designs and we like to complicate our lives.’ Now in her seventies, the greatgranddaughter of founder Jules Audemars has inherited the family knack for taking the long view and doing the wrong thing brilliantly.
Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Wallpaper.
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Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Wallpaper.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
POLE POSITION
A compact Melbourne house with a small footprint is big on efficiency and experimentation
URBAN OASIS
At an art-filled Mexico City residence, New York designer Giancarlo Valle has put his own spin on the country's traditional craft heritage
WARM FRONT
Designer Clive Lonstein elevates his carefully curated Manhattan home with rich textures and fabrics
BALCONY SCENE
A Brazilian island hotel offers a unique approach to the alfresco experience
ENSEMBLE CAST
How architect Anne Holtrop is leaving his mark on the Middle East
Survival mode
A new show looks at preparing for a post-apocalyptic landscape (and other catastrophes)
FLASK FORCE
A limited-edition perfume collaboration between two Spanish craft masters says it with flowers
BLOOM SERVICE
A flower-shaped brutalist beauty in Geneva gets a refresh
SECOND NATURE
A remodelled museum in Lisbon, by Kengo Kuma & Associates, meshes Japanese and Portuguese influences to create a space that sits in harmony with its surroundings
Guiding light
Designer Joe Armitage follows his grandfather's footsteps in India, reissuing his elegant midcentury lamp and creating a new chandelier for Nilufar Gallery