Office building in Gland
The IUCN headquarters is located on the lakeside outskirts of Gland along Lake Geneva. The office building that IUCN had commissioned here in the early 90s was now to be complemented with an extension for 110-130 users by agps.architecure of Zurich. The new building was designed to not only comply to the Swiss Minergie-P-Eco standard, but also to be certified under the American LEED system at the ‘Platinum’ level. With its continuous balconies and triangular photovoltaic roof shapes, the new building is clearly different from the rectangular, essentially introverted old building. On the interior, both buildings have similarly gracious access areas with two-story galleries and skylights. The budget for the new building was extremely tight despite the high sustainability requirements, therefore the interior can be characterized as a “high-gloss shell”. Finishes and cladding were largely omitted. There are no suspended ceilings, with the majority of technical supply lines placed in ceiling-mount expanded metal covers.
