Swatch inaugurated its new headquarters in Biel, Switzerland last Thursday. Designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, the building extends over a total length of 240 meters and a width of 35 meters, according to a press release. The whole building has 25,000 square meters of floor space spread over 5 floors. Much of the building is made from timber.
Ban regards the project as the most significant project of his life, telling the Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger that such a complex wooden building is only possible to make in Switzerland, which he calls the most advanced country in the world for timber construction.
The building is heated and cooled by a groundwater pumping system with nine underground wells and two former oil tanks that were converted into water reservoirs. In addition, the building features 442 curved solar elements.
Next to the Swatch headquarters are two other buildings: the Omega Manufacture, which went into operation in 2017, and Cité du Temps, which hosts both the Omega Museum and the Swatch museum, called Planet Swatch.
Swatch invested 220 million Swiss francs into the three buildings.
