shigeru ban: swatch HQ + production buildings for omega

shigeru ban’s winning competition entry for the new headquarters of swatch AG and omega SA, sister companies of the swiss watch giant swatch group AG, is particularly attentive to the relationship between the existing landscape and brand identity. the two famous brands will organize their expanded premises in the biel area as part of a greater effort to revitalize the site; however the japanese architect’s proposal will keep omega’s early buildings, themselves relics of a once-nascent terrain of industrialization.

the curved timber framing of swatch shell provides a gentle shade over hayek plaza
image © blaser architekten (also main image)

omega’s brand new production edifice will be timber frame construction while the central building will consolidate the overlapping functional areas of the two companies. integrated expanses of glazing and systematic louvers would bolster the sectionally split timber columns along with solar panels. the central building will also serve as the swatch and omega museums, with a spacious, oval auditorium connected to the swatch shell. this grand architectural gesture is a semi-circular, curved, timber-framed swatch building headquarters.

the omega central building sports a solar cell-topped sloped roof
image © blaser architekten

the curved wooden construction expresses structure as as skin while allowing elongations of circulation to connect with airy plazas. employing brilliant joinery, the outer shell serves multiple functions with minimalist tectonics. wide-grained wooden crosses alternate with a translucent envelope, thereby allowing the building to be both a pleasant spatial axis and assertion of brand identity. 

model view of the central building shows a light structure, elevated on pillars
image © blaser architekten

curved timber framing holds up a membrane of translucent material and pattern of wooden ‘swatch’ crosses
image © blaser architekten

apertures will allow showrooms to fill with light
image © shigeru ban

the omega prodction building is characterized by ample glazing and a referential sloped roof
image © shigeru ban

model view of the full campus
image © shigeru ba

the model shows the semi circular swatch headquarters as it connects with the omega central building
image © swatch group
a sumptuously curved timber shell roof creates the pedestrian friendly hayek plaza while connecting the campus
image © shigeru ban

view of the layered circulation in the plaza
image © blaser architekten

renderings show the green public spaces and plazas
image © swatch group

elevation rendering of the sinuous timber frame of the swatch headquarters
image © swatch group

the lattice-like semicircle overlaps the omega central building and museum at the rooftop oval auditorium
image © swatch group

exploded axon of the omega central building
image © swatch group

the lattice asserts the swatch brand identity while providing an aesthetically pleasing way of ventilating the structure
image © swatch group

diagram of the timber frame construction of the omega building
image © swatch group

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