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Release |
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| EXHIBITION
2002 |
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Preambule
The PALAIS de L'EQUILIBRE is an exceptional pavilion
both for its form and its content.
The PALAIS de L'EQUILIBRE marks the presence
of the SWISS CONFEDERATION at NEUCHATEL on the
occasion of the 2002 Swiss national exhibition.
It has the aim of making visitors aware of the
problem of sustainable development.
To describe the theme, we state that the future
of both Switzerland and that of the planet depends
on the ability to reconcile social responsibility
and protection of the environment with an efficient
economy.
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Architecture
The pavilion's architecture is remarkable for being both
innovative and symbolic. It consists of a sphere 40 m.
in diameter, entirely in wood, a metaphor for the earth.
The pavilion can accommodate 1,000 people an hour for
a visit of approximately 20 minutes and has to be accessible
by all the Swiss language communities.
With this in mind, the tour is split into 3 communication
spaces: 'Awareness' at ground floor level, 'Responsibility'
at a level + 8,50 m. and 'Action' on the descent ramp
from 12 m. to the ground, over a length of approximately
160 m.
The first 2 spaces are set inside a hemispherical shell
that makes it possible to control the light and communicate
messages using innovative and spectacular audiovisual
methods.
The descending ramp, positioned between the shell and
the external skin, is made up of wooden slats placed
horizontally, like circles, spaced at approximately 18
cm. and giving a magnificent panoramic view of NEUCHATEL
and its surroundings.
Lastly, the pavilion's appearance changes according to
the luminosity. By day, wood has pride of place. At night,
it is a ball of light that shines above the NEUCHATEL
site. |
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The wooden construction
This is a world's first: to construct a wooden sphere
of such dimensions at up to 27m height with so little
material.
In fact, 18 arches of glued slats of a diameter of 60cm
support the exterior sphere
and assemblies of the central vortex which is itself
a masterpiece of technology.
The wood used, one of the symbols of sustainable development,
is fir mixed with Norway spruce from the forests of French-speaking
Switzerland. The skin of exterior slats is in larch and
is made up of items recycled from the Swiss pavilion
at Hanover. The assemblies and connections are made employing
a revolutionary technology that uses resin gluing. The
assembling is carried out like a simple game of Lego,
which will make it possible, after the exhibition, to
ensure that recycling it will be easy and practical.
A consortium of 11 companies specialising in wood construction
from both the German and French speaking areas was responsible
for putting together this marvellous structure.
It required approximately 2000m3 of wood to construct
this work. When we consider that the Swiss forest has
a growth rate of 700m3 per hour and that currently we
hardly exploit 50 % of its potential, it is satisfying
to realise that the equivalent of a Palais de l'Equilibre
grows in Switzerland every 3 hours! |
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