Golay Buchel Headquarters

The new Golay Buchel headquarters is located at the west entrance of Lausanne, on the shores of Lake Geneva. The total forty-three thousand square feet (four thousand square meters) of floor space is distributed on four levels, each split in two parts that function independently. The first half is for Golay Buchel and the other one is to be leased. The building is inscribed in a simple volume that has been partially carved out. The resulting voids generate a series of spaces that separate these parts, creating a passage at the ground level for differentiated entrances and an atrium space around which the Golay Buchel offices are arranged. In turn the spatial complexity thus produced and the consequent permeability to natural light enrich the interior-exterior relationship. Two kinds of stones, a polished and a sandblasted granite, together with the anodized aluminum detailing, serve to articulate the base and the main body of the building.