Palais des Congrès

Words & Photography: Karin Bürki

Brasilià in Biel/Bienne

The utterly striking exclamation mark of a building brought big-time International Style modernism to the bilingual watchmaking town in the southern Jura foothills. A nod to Mies van der Rohe’s corporate glass-and-steel temples and Oscar Niemeyer’s sinuous civic buildings for the new Brazilian capital, the structure comprises a 14-storey administrative tower and two separate wings. One houses a 825m2 concert hall and an olympic-sized indoor swimming-pool, offering the rare chance to experience high culture and water sports in a single space. It also boasts a suspended roof, which counted as one of the largest in Europe at the time. The third building comprises various smaller halls and workshop spaces.

Object of National Significance

The conference centre perfectly captures the boldly forward-looking spirit and unwavering belief in technological progress in Switzerland during the economic boom years of the 1960s. Grand in gesture and scale, the Palais remains peerless in this country.

The Solothurn School

The Solothurn School The Palais des Congrès reflects the postwar technocratic and industrial approach of a group of young architects from the southern Jura foothills. Known as The Solothurn School, the group included Max Schlup, Fritz Haller, Hans Zaugg, Franz Füegg and Alfons Barth. Though they all worked independently, they all happened to be huge fans of Mies van der Rohe, prefabrication and modular systems. Their materials of choice were glass, steel and concrete. The group’s signature steel-framed buildings came to define Switzerland’s postwar architecture. Ultimately, however, it was Fritz Haller’s modular furnishing system that had the most lasting impact. Better known as USM Haller they remain the gold standard in Swiss offices.