Page 85 - AIT0420_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Bonnard Woeffray, CH-Monthey
Grundriss Obergeschoss • Upper floor plan
Schnitt • Section
Bauherr • Client Bwim SA + Prrim SA, CH-Monthey
Standort • Location Avenue de France 24, CH-Monthey
Nutzfläche • Floor space 3.910 m 2
Fotos • Photos Roland Halbe, Stuttgart
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More information on page 150
OFFICE AND RESIDENTIAL
BUILDING IN MONTHEY
Where means of public transport used to be housed,
forward-looking architecture is now emerging. The de-
sign of the new building for multiple use results from
a somewhat inconvenient location. The triangular
shape of the former railway area, located between the
tracks and the road, has nevertheless been skilfully
turned into a programme for the building.
M onolithic rooms built of finest fair-faced concrete are now found
in almost every conceivable context. Their impressive effect has
been tried and tested many times over, and thanks to their almost
sensual look and feel they have become an integral part of a very
wide variety of interior design concepts. In such contemplative places
as the small town of Monthey in the Valais Alps, Switzerland, how -
ever, such interiors have so far not necessarily been quite as common
or even part of the familiar townscape! In the case of their own
office premises, the architects of the firm Bonnard Woeffray even
succeeded in presenting the material in a new way with the help of a
complementary material — glass. The building is structured by a cen-
tral staircase core that takes up the shape of the site and reduces it to
a triangle. Various meeting rooms and open-plan workplaces are ar-
ranged all-round on the office floors, with narrow light rails providing
additional rhythm. Coloured glass walls partition off calm zones,
atmospherically accentuate the surrounding area with their translu-
cent colour scheme and bathe the individual sides of the raw concrete
core in a diffuse light. The basic shape is thus always present in the
interior — an effect that is further enhanced in the purist staircase by
fully mirrored stringers that allow angled, almost labyrinthine
views. In this way, the room is visually expanded to a multiple and
perceived anew over and over again. The outside of the central mo-
nolith has been fitted with shiny silver perforated sheeting, which
in the office allows an elegant and uncomplicated presentation of
plans and drawings with the help of magnets. Circumferential light
bands make the solitaire clearly stand out from its surroundings.
On the upper floors, which are used for residential purposes, the
focus is on the spectacular views to the surrounding Alps. Five diffe-
rent, generously illuminated residential units each featuring a reces-
sed corner loggia were created. The extensive use of vibrant colours
is continued here with coloured linoleum floor coverings and internal
bathrooms with monochrome tiles.
AIT 4.2020 • 085