Visitors centre swiss ornithological station
Sempach, Switzerland, 2013 - 2014
Client
Schweizerische Vogelwarte
Architecture
:mlzd Architekten
Builder
Lehm Ton Erde Schweiz GmbH, Lehm Ton Erde Bau GmbH
The new visitor centre of the Swiss ornithological station is situated on the banks of the Sempach Lake. It is supposed to give public a better insight to the work of the ornithological station and the native bird species.
The visitor is guided by a dynamically balanced network of pathways through the exhibition and the lakeside property. The situation of the two compact, polygonal forms refer to the position in the surrounding landscape and the lake. The intermediate space between two buildings becomes a genourous foyer, distributing the access to all the parts of the exhibition. The show aviary at the end of the foyer forms the fluent transition from the interior to exterior. (Text: :mlzd Architekten)
The prefabricated facade elements, 35 cm thick for the bird nursery and 45 cm thick in the parts of the exhibition, are load bearing and are situated in front of a steel concrete skeleton construction. Another extraordinary feature is the Corten steel window frames, which were installed together with the rammed earth façade. The frames and the windows are both anchored in the rammed earth components.
(Photos: Alexander Jaquemet, Benedikt Redmann)
