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Block centers planted to bring green to a new business district

ID card

  • Project name: Quartet

  • Location city/canton: Geneva

  • Type of project: Urban piece

  • Project start date: 2016

  • Delivery date: 2023

  • Surface area of ​​the AMEX project: 2,500m2

  • SIA phases: 31-53

  • Architect: Favre + Guth architecture sa

  • Partner company: HRS Real Estate SA, Boccard Parcs et Jardins SA, Truchet Jardinier SA

The mission

✔️ Bring greenery to a dense and mineral urban block.

✔️ Support the urban metamorphosis of a former wasteland towards a mixed activity hub.

✔️ Retranscribe the industrial heritage of the plot through plants and materials.

The brief

Ideally located between Cornavin station and Geneva airport, the Quartet project transforms a former industrial wasteland (the Hispano-Suiza factory) into a dynamic complex combining artisanal, commercial and tertiary activities. In the heart of the Charmilles district, delimited by the streets of Lyon, de Bourgogne and the Route des Franchises, this mixed complex interconnects 11 new buildings around three large interior courtyards. At the head of the block, an existing building is preserved, renovated and raised to accommodate the High School of Art and Design (HEAD).  

We were commissioned by the architects Favre+Guth to provide the client with a summary preliminary design. Our proposal was successful and we continued the project until its delivery in 2023.

Green patios in the heart of a mixed activity center

The entire plot is focused on soft mobility: car access is limited to the basement with underground parking. The ground floor is therefore completely left free to accommodate commercial activities and the entrances to the offices located on the upper floors.

Our area of ​​action on this project included the development of sidewalks, three interior courtyards at the heart of the block and a patio within the HEAD school.

According to the requirements of the city of Geneva, the sidewalks on rue de Lyon and rue de Bourgogne were made with Genevan coating. This specific type of layout imitates natural slabs. The line of plane trees was replanted on the Rue de Lyon side and a new line of oak trees on Rue de Bourgogne took place.

The three interior courtyards were created following the same model and varying it according to the specificities of the space. Each patio has three green zones, arranged in raised corten steel containers to allow a thickness of soil suitable for planting. The paths are in swept concrete, the peripheral covering in loose gravel punctuated with ruderal plants. Two types of coating were used to distinguish pedestrian traffic zones from delivery zones: a colored coating and a scintiflex coating, incorporating mirror aggregates.

The design school's patio, located in the basement, provides the surrounding classrooms with light and greenery. Three planted mounds, with a height of zero to 80 centimeters, accommodate small trees with very beautiful foliage coloring in the fall. Made from terracotta, original pebble-shaped seats are used by smokers during their break.

Raw materials echoing the industrial heritage

The Quartet location reveals a history closely linked to the industry. Indeed, the former Hispano-Suiza Geneva factory manufactured aircraft engines and other military equipment there between 1938 and 1970. The building was then used by small and medium-sized businesses, then left fallow until the demolition of the halls in 2016. The client's aesthetic desire for this project was to echo this industrial heritage. For the exterior fittings, we therefore favored the use of raw materials, resonating with the industrial history of the place. The raised Corten steel troughs evoke the idea of ​​vegetation emerging from the ground, adapting to an arid environment surrounded by minerals. The use of concrete — swept for the paths and raw for the benches — reinforces the industrial aesthetic of the project.

Creating pockets of nature from an old wasteland

Patios with a raw aesthetic, certainly, but lively with greenery. The difficulty of this type of urban room is to succeed in planting and growing plants in very mineral conditions. Our challenge was to shape green oases from scratch. For this, we have developed a horticultural plant palette, with a selection of trees such as gleditsias, with their distinctive bark and atypical foliage. The containers accommodate a diversity of shrubs, including Japanese maples, small pines and dogwoods, creating a variety of foliage and textures. The carpet, completely planted with grass to offer a green aesthetic in summer, is just as charming in winter with the dried grasses. Accessible from the street as well as from offices, these pockets of nature help create a more pleasant environment for all users.

A long and complex project, divided into 4 phases of work

Given the size and complexity of the project, the site was divided into four phases of work. As soon as the surrounding buildings were built, we worked to develop the adjacent interior courtyard. This allowed us to carry out tests on a first commissioning and subsequently adjust on the next two. For example, the first island was designed using full earth. Given the soil pollution, it was necessary to work with the competent authorities (GESDEC) to reconstitute the soil to a depth of 7 meters. The soil being too polluted on the other islets to be able to continue this soil reconstitution work, this option was abandoned. For the layout of the other two courtyards, we copied and pasted the aesthetic principle, adapting it according to the volume of the place.
“A small project in terms of exterior landscaping areas, but very interesting in terms of coordination between companies and the various stakeholders.”
L. Pernet-Solliet
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