Day 1 

Arrival in Geneva.

According of time of arrival, we can organise a visit of new wings of the Geneva Airport.

 

Day 2 Geneva

Morning walking tour in the United Nation district with iconic buildings such as Maison de la Paix, Passerelle de la Paix, Maison des étudiants Edgar et Danièle de Picciotto, Japan Tobacco International headquaters (JTI), World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and World Trade Organisation new building (WTO).

Lunch  will be at Bellevue, following the visit of the Lombard Odier complexe. Then back to the city for the Hans Wilsdorf Bridge and the project of Feng Shui Pictet Tower district. With a total area of ​​66,500 m² above ground, the complex consists of a quadrangle of eight levels and a tower rising 90 meters, or 24 floors at most. “We sought to express the verticality of the tower in a first plastic gesture which consists in demarcating the volume by vertical hyphenation. The facade of the building is thus punctuated by a subtle play of more massive elements in the lower sections, to gradually refine upwards", explains the architect. Most of the premises (54,000 m2) will be dedicated to offices, those of the Pictet management group with 2,500 workplaces; the accommodation will occupy an area of ​​10,300 m2 according to a villa-building design, a majority of the apartments being developed as generous duplexes extended by double-height gardens. The simplexes, just as generously sized, have large sunken balconies in the form of loggia-gardens.
On the way to your hotel, we will have a look at the Le Corbusier's Clarté building.

 

Day 3 Geneva - Le Brassus - Rolle - Lausanne

Departure for a 58 km drive through Jura Mountain to Le Brassus (28 km) where the famous watch manufaturer Audemars Piguet has recently open a Museum (2020) and the Hôtel des Horlogers (March 2022), both designed by BIG, the agency of Danish Bjarke Ingels. 

The Musée Atelier links the original house where Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet set business in 1875 to a glass spiral-shaped pavilion designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and realised by the Swiss architecture office CCHE. It is the first construction of its kind to be built at such altitude with108 unique structural glass panels, up to 12 cm thick and combining up to 7 layers, hold the 470-T steel roof. A brass mesh runs along the external surface to regulate light and temperature. Between the brass ceiling and the Jura stone floor, they define the course, also in a spiral, in a play of reflections fed by an abundance of natural light. In order to filter the rays of the summer sun, only a metal mesh surrounds the sloping sides of the roof, without obstructing anything from the panorama. Thanks to the transparency of the device, the surrounding mountains can be seen from all spaces. A feat of engineering and design. 

Situated in this contemporary glass building, the main exhibition presents some 300 time pieces spanning over 200 years of watchmaking history in the Vallée de Joux, including the Universal: his most sophisticated watch, invented in 1899.

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After lunch at the Hôtel des Horlogers, back to the Geneva lake shore at Rolle for the visit of the Carnal concert hall designed by the famous architect Bernard Tschumi. 

End of the afternoon, final drive to Lausanne (28 km).

 

Day 4 Lausanne

In the morning, visit to the Olympic Museum. Inaugurated in 1993 (Pedro Ramírez Vázquez architect), the Olympic Museum needed a new museography. A technical and security update was also necessary. The interior has been completely redesigned to offer more exhibition space, clarify circulation and completely reorganize the second floor, while retaining the central ramp which contributes to its brand image. To its original terraced architecture inspired by that of the Lake Geneva hillsides, Brauen Wälchli Architects adds an innovative roof which gives it a new crowning glory. The vast upper terrace is thus covered with a joist of pre-stressed boards of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composite topped by a grid of joists that allow light to filter through. Under this structure slip freely a banquet hall, the restaurant and an exhibition space entirely glazed to the south. Above the Mediterranean whiteness of the marble building of Thasos, it appears like a long pergola opening onto the park and the lake below.
 

Then continuation to discover Platform 10, which brings together three art museums and is considered the new cultural center of Lausanne.

The Fine Arts Museum designed by Barcelona architects Fabrizio Barozzi and Alberto Veiga has been inaugurated 2019. The Mudac (contemporary design and applied arts museum) and the Élysée Museum (photography museum) will be brought together in a single building signed by Portuguese architects Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus, opening scheduled for 2021. 

This highly anticipated new cultural hub confirms Lausanne's love for the architectural avant-garde.

 

Lunch at Rolex Learning center of EPFL. 

A few metro stations from the center of Lausanne is the EPFL (Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne). This campus is a real architectural laboratory; several schools and buildings have been designed by big names in contemporary architecture. The tour begins with the multicolored underpass at the exit of the metro, a work of art by Giordano Favi. The famous Rolex Learning Center, inaugurated in 2010, the flagship building of the campus, is the work of Japanese architects SANAA. They designed a great wave that lightly marries glass and concrete, the building seems to be levitating. The interior calls for strolling because the particularly studied acoustics produce an astonishing calm. Opposite is the new Mechanical Hall (ME), whose facade designed by Dominique Perrault is a tribute to mechanics. The ArtLab by Japanese designer Kengo Kuma, a long building with a slate roof and wooden facades, dedicated to the dialogue between science and culture, is also one of the campus’s strong points. The SwissTech Convention Center and the extension of the old library are also worth a visit as well as the Vortex, a nine floors of modules in spiral designed by Dürig / Itten+Brechbühl

The student accommodation at the University of Lausanne houses almost a thousand students, who can easily socialise and also withdraw to their rooms. In the large, round building, social interaction and communal spaces are never far away, creating a small town feel where the inner courtyard can also serve as a sports arena, stage and green space. The nine storeys are connected via a 2.8 kilometre long spiral concrete ramp, which also serves as the floor and ceiling for each level and has an incline of around one percent. 

According to the architects, a stroll up to the communal roof terrace with views across Lake Geneva should take around 25 minutes, but for those in a hurry there are also lifts and stairs that lead straight up. 

This building-to-building stroll is not just for architecture enthusiasts because this campus is one of the most innovative in Europe, you can even take a break in one of the many cafes and food trucks.

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Day 5 Lausanne - Corseaux (Vevey) - Geneva - return home

In the afternoon, drive along the lake to Corseaux (19 km) to visit the villa ‘Le Lac’ by renowned architect Le Corbusier. 

After a nice lunch amonst the vignards of Lavaux (Unesco world heritage), drive back to Geneva.