A spiralling staircase is visible behind the gridded exterior of this office block in Vevey, Switzerland, by Swiss firm Personeni Raffaele Schärer Architects.
The ECA/OAI Building comprises five levels of office space, overlooking a roof garden on the ground-floor plinth.
This plinth contains an entrance lobby and cafe that can also be accessed by neighbouring buildings.
Photography is by Tonatiuh Ambrosetti.
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Here is some text from the architects:
Personeni Raffaele Schärer Architects
ECA/OAI office building Vevey, Switzerland, 2011
The new building completes a city block in the centre of Vevey.
The urban void behind the buildings was a residual space used as a parking lot and for utility purposes.
The intervention took advantage of the void and turned it into a main hall for all the buildings of the block.
The once neglected space became a common area with a big patio and a green roof, offering a garden view for all the buildings around it.
The new five floors office building frames the roof garden without enclosing it and maintains a wide visual panorama on the city and the mountains.
Architectural competition. First prize 2008. Construction 2009 - 2011
Architects: Personeni Raffaele Schärer Architectes
Client: ECA, Etablissement d’assurance contre l’incendie et les éléments naturels du Canton de Vaud
User: OAI, Office de l’assurance-invalidité pour le canton de Vaud
Address: Rue des Entrepôts, 1800 Vevey, VD
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What a nice place to keep my frozen vegetables!
very beautiful building, you could freeze big things there that is no problem
It's very Swiss.
practical good
it's clean and simple form the appearance
very good.
Almost makes me think of Mies.
Pity the photographer thinks is shooting an object.
I would like to see the same pictures but with activity.
Sustainability? What's it?
in a day and age where hard-line construction people such as clotet-paricio are doing 100% glass façades, I'm afraid the typical "oh! haha! this man is so silly, he uses glass!" self-help formula is even more ridiculous than it was 10 years ago. not that this building is any good, but get with the times, man.
As this is a cantonal government building it was surely required to meet Minergie standards, it's taken quite seriously in Switzerland.
(A tiny bit of googling confirms it.)
I'd be really interested to see this building photographed once some of the office units have been filled.