Dialogues

Morning Lecture Series

4 ateliers d'une 1/2 journée pour dessiner la ville climatique Apports théoriques, analyse in situ et stratégies concrètes appliquées au bâti et à l’espace public

1000 Arbres — Cycle de Prospective Exposition, conférences, ateliers professionnels Ensemble, dessinons aujourd’hui les espaces publics de demain. Face à l’urgence climatique, la question de l’arbre en ville s’impose comme un enjeu central de la transformation urbaine. Organisé par la Fondation Braillard Architectes, la République et Canton de Genève et la Ville de Genève, le […]

Envision the ecological transition through architectural, urban and landscape design. For the seventh consecutive year, the Fondation Braillard launches its annual call for diploma projects and first works in architecture, landscape and urban planning. Selected projects will join the Transition Seeds webinar series and be shared with audiences in Switzerland and abroad. Approaches, strategies and […]

11 juillet - Troisième et dernière excursion du forum Homo Faber

Call for contributions deadline 5 July 2026.

Fondation Braillard Architectes comes together with the NEB Lab “Sustainable and Inclusive Neighbourhoods” led by BABLE Smart Cities, CPEA, DGNB, Drees & Sommer and ICLEI, to host a Brussels Event within the NEB Festival, on June 11 2026.

Dernière session du programme de Webinaire Transition Seeds consacrée aux "Formes d'adaptation".

Discussion- Comment concevoir et réaliser des projets à la fois décarbonés et résilients?

3e webinaire du cycle Transition Seeds 2026 "Pensés et impensés"

Conférence inaugurale du Forum Homo Faber, avec Giovanni Netzer

Programme du forum Homo Faber, pour l'avenir écologique de l'artisanat du bâtiment en Suisse

2e rendez-vous du cycle de webinaire Transition Seeds 2026

New participants and speakers for this 7th edition! Thank you to Dominique Bourg, François Gemmene, Carmen de Jong, Marjolein Visser, Sylvain Ferretti, and Elena Havlicek for joining us, and welcome to Marie-Antoinette Mélières for this adventure. This first session also welcomed the various participants of this Transition Workshop, from diverse backgrounds but all driven by […]

1er rendez-vous de la série de webinaires Transition Seeds 2026: Pensés et impensés

Calendrier des dates des webinaires

Prospective urbaine, gouvernance des risques et transition énergétique, en collaboration avec FH4S, dans le cadre de la réunion annuelle du Forum économique mondial 2026 à Davos

Six years of Design Studio to explore here: over 20 projects, countless hours of reflection, sketches, drawings, and models, and prestigious guests on each jury… This intensive two-week practical workshop, supported by the Canton of Geneva, offers the opportunity to work on a real site within the Geneva region to imagine innovative ecological solutions for […]

Merci à toutes et tous pour votre présence et participation au Séminaire de Genève 2025! Cette année, entre autres interventions autour de la ville et du climat, nous avons pu assister aux présentations publiques des travaux issus du Design Studio de cet été par Matéo Bouton, Luana Ferrari, Chiara Lombardi Dellamonica, Candela de la Macorra […]

Découvrez le site genevois qui recevra l’atelier pratique du Transition Workshop de la prochaine édition: établi sur les deux communes de Plan-les-Ouates et de Lancy, le nouveau quartier de Chapelle–Les Sciers est un ensemble d’immeubles modernes, répondants aux normes écologiques et accueillant de nombreuses familles. Malgré les avantages du calme, de la piétonisation et des […]

Séminaire de Genève 2025

Join us on Thursday, November 27th at the Geneva Seminar, an event as part of Geneva’s Climate Week. On the program: discover the work from this summer’s Transition Workshop, presented by the teams from this summer’s Design Studio. With: Sylvain Ferretti (Canton of Geneva), Albane Ferraris (City of Geneva), Reto Camponovo (Hepia), Delphine Ding and […]

Information session open to all to find out about the Transition Workshop before applying

Round table at the Rendez-vous de l'urbanisme, City of Geneva

Maître d’œuvre: FIPOI (Fondation des Immeubles pour les Organisations Internationales)   Le 14 avril 2025, le Centre International de Conférences de Genève (CICG) s’est transformé en véritable laboratoire du futur. Avec le soutien de la FIPOI, Braillard Expertise a conçu et animé le «Sprint of Ideas», un atelier audacieux réunissant expert·es, représentant·es institutionnels et organisations internationales pour […]

On the occasion of the European Heritage Days Geneva, the Braillard Architects Foundation is pleased to offer 4 guided tours of the Salève Cable Car. They are free of charge, but you will need to register online from 26 August, as places are limited (max. 25). Registration link Tours: Saturday 13 September: departure at 11am, […]

Design Studio 2025 concluded last Friday, after a full day of presentations to representatives of the Canton of Geneva and the City of Geneva, as well as a jury composed of architects and city specialists. Congratulations to the teams who approached the Plainpalais-Place des Augustins neighborhood through the lens of resources, lifestyles, and living organisms! […]

     

We had the honor of welcoming Dominique Bourg, Mathis Wackernagel, Martine Rebetez, Marjolein Visser, Elena Havlicek, Carmen de Jong, Sylvain Ferretti, Pierre Hollmuller, Anthony Lehmann, François Gemenne, Martin Schlaepfer, Michel Meyer, Andrea Gritti, Catherine Maumi, Gregory Giuliani, Tobias Brosch, Vincent Kaufmann, Claudia Binder, Christian Arnsperger, Sonia Lavadinho, Alexandre Hedjazi, Claudia Binder, Peter Droege, Winy Maas, […]

Information and applications for the Transition Workshop 2026 training

Envision the ecological transition through architecture, urbanism and landscape design. Take part in the call for diploma projects and first works of the Braillard Architects Foundation!

As part of our Transition Workshop, a special roundtable discussion is being organized on the involvement of cities in ecological transition strategies. In a context of increasing shifts in global ecological, societal, economic, and geopolitical dynamics, cities are increasingly becoming the epicenters of polycrisis. However, cities are also on the front lines of effective action, […]

Braillard, Architects from Father to Son 80 Years of Projects From Wednesday, April 2 to Saturday, September 20, 2025 – L’îlot-S, Annecy   Maurice Braillard (1879-1965) was an architect, urban planner, and politician whose professional activities and commitments left a lasting mark on Geneva. In 1907, he opened his own architectural practice. Two of his […]

Theory Masterclass participants have begun exploring the streets of the neighborhood they will be working on during the Design Studio next July. Want to join the adventure? Last spots available! Contact us at transitionworkshop@braillard.ch

Troisième conférence du cycle Transition Seeds 2025, avec Luana Ferrari et G'Juliemm Kouamé, et la participation de Clément Gaillard et Anne-Lyse Leymarie.

During the first session, the 16 participants of the 2025 edition were welcomed with a starter kit including, among other useful tools for note-taking, a thermometer. Why? More info in the second session where we will go to explore the terrain in preparation for the Design Studio!

Deuxième conférence du cycle Transition Seeds, avec Chiara Lombardi Dellamonica, Matéo Bouton et Valentine Forestier, et la participation de Susanne Stacher.

Première conférence du cycle Transition Seeds 2025, avec Ada Massarente et Lou Gomez, et la participation de Nicolas Tixier et Jennifer Buyck

Programme de la série de conférences Transition Seeds 2025

Découvrez en avant-première le documentaire sur les origines du Téléphérique du Salève de Maurice Braillard

Do you want to follow the full course? Send us your file. Do you prefer to follow the courses à la carte? Go to the Theory Masterclass program! More informations about this year here!

Première conférence du cycle Corps Fragiles, en partenariat avec l'Université de Genève

Programme de la série de conférences/ateliers avec l'Université de Genève

Program and registration for the Geneva Seminar 2024

See you on November 20 for the presentation of the projects from this summer’s Design Studio. Free entrance. More information and Registration below: Book here

Vernissage & Table ronde de l'exposition Résonances Oasiennes

Visite guidée "Histoire et rénovation au téléphérique" Dimanche 22 septembre à 11h

Ask your questions before to apply to the Transition Workshop 2025

The first Info Session, preceding the application deadline for the 2026 edition, will take place in September! Register for our meeting on Tuesday, September 16, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., to learn more about the Transition Workshop 2026 program and team. Come ask your questions! Register

The practical part of the Transition Workshop ended after two weeks of visits, meetings and intense work. The four multidisciplinary teams have in fact proposed ecological transition scenarios for a city in Greater Geneva: the 4° city requires us to think of it now as a mosaic of bioclimatic refuges. Let’s imagine Versoix if: Water […]

Voir ou revoir ou les conférences Transition Seeds de 2024

Send your application file for training on ecological transition

Subscribe to the newsletter to stay informed about the workshop

4e et dernière conférence du cycle Transition Seeds 2024

Send your application file to present your diploma project

2e conférence Transition Seeds 2024.

We will shortly be announcing the opening of applications for the next Transition Workshop. If you’d like to be informed of the dates of the Theory Masterclass and the new Design Studio website as soon as they are launched, sign up below: Receive information about the Transition Workshop Email Address 

If the (de)carbonization of cities and territories has its metrics and costs, what about their resilience in the face of climate change? Following on from last February’s introduction to the challenges of ecological transition, the second session of the TransitionWorkshop 2024 offered participants a cross-section of views on the parameters and dimensions of the issue […]

Appel à contributions pour la prochaine JBS.

Exposition du Musée de Carouge sur la relation entre le Salève et la ville sarde.

A quick look back at the first 3-day session, during which we welcomed Dominique Bourg, Carmen de Jong, Sylvain Ferretti, Marjolein Visser and Mathis Wackernagel, as well as Martine Rebetez for her first conference in the Transition Workshop, in front of the fifteen highly motivated participants of the Transition Workshop 2024. The last day was […]

2e conférence de notre cycle sur les travaux de diplômes en lien avec la transition écologique des villes.

Next Geneva Debate, with the Antonio HODGERS (DT, Geneva) and the experts of the Transition Workshop

Composing from city soil The ground with its subsoil is not an inert base for our constructions. On the contrary, it is alive and interacts as much with the atmosphere as with the “parental material” of the Earth. Recognized in its substance and in the static, biological and ecological risks that its incorrect use can […]

Dates et thématiques du cycle de conférences 2024

Exhibition

Presentation of the results of the Transition Workshop 2023 and debate

Come and ask your questions about the Transition Workshop!

Prochaines visites: samedi 28 octobre

Information and program on the Transition Workshop

Voir ou revoir les conférences des Transition Seeds 2023.

Find out the dates of the 4 sessions of the Theory Masterclass, the practical part of the Transition Workshop for the coming year, and send us your application! (The proposed courses and professors may be subject to change).

Débat de Genève 2023: table ronde sur les densités écologiques

Architectural, urban and landscape projects for the design of the ecological transition. Participate in the Fondation Braillard Architectes’ call for diploma works and first professional experiences!   The Transition Seeds lecture series is back for the fourth consecutive year: the Fondation Braillard Architectes is launching its annual call for diploma works and first professional experiences […]

“Téléphérique” Exhibition and sound installations From 11 May to 19 August 2023 Opening on 11 May 2023 at 6.30pm Ecomusée de l’API 25 rue du Vuache, 1201 Geneva + info Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, 10am–6pm or by appointment The Braillard Architects Foundation is associated with this exhibition, which approaches the cable car from a […]

Dernière conférence du cycle Transition Seeds 2023.

4e conférence du cycle de conférence Transition Seeds 2023

3e conférence du cycle Transition Seeds 2023.

Prochaine conférence Transition Seeds

While waiting, here is some bibliography on the subject of ecological transition. On our side, we’ll do our best to welcome you, whether remotely or in person at the Foundation! Registration for the Theory Masterclass remains open, and courses are also available à-la-carte.

Assistez à la première conférence Transition Seeds de l'année!

Programme de la 3e édition de notre série de conférences Transition Seeds

 Watch the film made at this year’s TW and meet the speakers, tutors and participants of this extraordinary project.

Inscriptions pour le Transition Workshop 2023 ouvertes!

Revoir la journée de séminaire sur le Transition Workshop 22, les territoires en transition et l'anniversaire de la FBA.

The Braillard Architects Foundation organised a screening of the documentary “Verticales Urbaines”, devoted to the visionary projects of Maurice Braillard, followed by a debate re-examining forms and densities through the prism of the ecological transition for the future of Geneva.   With Philippe MEIER Architect, Meier+associés architectes, Geneva; lecturer at HEPIA Mathias STOCKER Boltshauser Architekten, […]

Programme de la 6e Journées d'étude Bernardo Secchi

Programme et inscriptions au cycle de conférence de la Fondation Eranos, à Ascona.

MAURICE BRAILLARD – VERTICALES URBAINES Directed by: Aurélie Doutre Narration: Paul Marti, historian Production: Braillard Architects Foundation The European Heritage Days in 2020 gave rise to an original initiative: the presentation, on the premises of the Braillard Architects Foundation, of an exhibition dedicated to the unbuilt towers of Maurice Braillard. Today, the Foundation has the […]

Le 3 juin 2022 se déroulait la cérémonie du lancement du chantier de rénovation. Retour sur les enjeux de ces travaux qui dureront jusqu'au printemps prochain.

Dernière conférence du cycle 2022, venez nombreux!

The Transition Seeds lecture series is back for the third year: the Braillard Architects Foundation is launching an open call for diploma projects in architecture, landscape and urban planning whose philosophy, strategy and design proposals are in line with its culture and research programme The Eco-Century Project (ECP). We are looking for young graduates who […]

4e conférence du cycle TS22 qui invite de jeunes architectes à présenter leurs travaux de diplôme.

3e conférence Transition Seeds

Composez votre propre parcours parmi les webinars de la Theory Masterclass! Build your own path among Theory Masterclass webinars!

Call to contributions for the 6th Bernardo Secchi Days

The 2022 Geneva Debate invites experts from the Transition Workshop

2e conférence du cycle 2022

Première conférence du nouveau cycle de 2022!

Programme de la série de conférences 2022

Watch the video of the presentations of the Transition Workshop and Luxembourg in Transition teams.

Applications open!

Formation théorique et pratique à la transition écologique des villes

Visionnez les cinq conférences de la première édition des Transition Seeds

Consultez en ligne la publication sur les travaux des 7 équipes de la Consultation du Grand Genève.

Retrouvez les vidéos réalisées pendant la Masterclass, avec les experts invités!

Infos & Candidatures au workshop de la transition qui se tiendra à Genève du 1.06.21 au 9.7.21 en distanciel et du 12.7.21 au 23.7.21 en présentiel.

Appel à projets de diplôme pour la saison 2021-2022

Dernière session du cycle Transition Seeds, avec 2 conférencières et débat de clôture.

Dessiner le Grand Genève de la transition reste en fin de compte une mission éminemment créative, une transposition matérielle dans les paysages, le quartiers et les bâtiments de notre espoir collectif pour une nouvelle habitabilité de la Terre. Intervenants Milica TOPALOVIC Architecte, urbaniste, professeure associée à ETHZ D-ARCH Stefano BOERI Architecte, président de la Triennale […]

3ème conférence du cycle Transition Seeds 2021

Les ressources en commun Comment transformer nos territoires habités en puits actifs de carbone et des havres de biodiversité, tout en maintenant leur attractivité sociale? Comment rendre nos villes résilientes aux effets néfastes du changement climatique, tout en profitant de leur richesse culturelle et patrimoniale? Ensemble bien sûr, grâce à des formes de solidarité, d’échange […]

2ème conférence du cycle Transition Seeds 2021

2e conférence du cycle consacré au Grand Genève, avec les équipes de la Consultation.

Session #1 du cycle de conférences, avec Paola VIGANÒ et Florian HERTWECK

Programme de la série de conférences Dessiner la Transition 2021

Documentaire sur la Consultation du Grand Genève, mardi 2 février 2021 à 19h30 sur Léman Bleu.

Conférence de Simon CERF-CARPENTIER, avec la participation de Valérie CABANES

Programme de la série de conférence #sketchbook 2021

Conférence magistrale de clôture du séminaire doctoral inaugural de l’EDT62 Speaker: Panos MANTZIARAS, Directeur de la Fondation Braillard Architectes Date & heure: 17 décembre | 17h30 Pour assister à la conférence: En ligne: http://cutt.ly/ahWrsoH Plus d’infos ci-dessous: https://uclouvain.be/…/seminaire-inaugurale-de-l-edt-62… Evénement organisé par: UCLouvain – Université catholique de Louvain ULB – Université libre de Bruxelles Université de […]

Les vidéos sont en ligne! Retrouvez les conférences TEDx Countdown de la FBA avec les équipes du Grand Genève.

The Braillard Architects Foundation is pleased to announce that the inventory of its archives is now accessible!

Article on the Greater Geneva Consultation: How to conceive the border area of the Greater Geneva in the Anthropocene era? The seven multidisciplinary teams involved in the consultation responded with one voice: by radically changing our approach to the territory, our way of thinking and our tools. But are we capable of it?

Final presentation of the Greater Geneva Consultation.

Exhibition organised in the context of the www.journeesdupatrimoine.ch Visits commented by Paul Marti at the Braillard Architects Foundation Press article in the Geneva Tribune. Brochure to be downloaded here. Maurice Braillard – Urban verticals In its premises rearranged for the occasion, the Braillard Architects Foundation presented an exhibition of tower projects developed by the architect, […]

Article on the Maurice Braillard, urban verticals exhibition, which took place as part of the European Heritage Days 2020. Source: https://www.tdg.ch/braillard-et-ses-tours-restees-dans-les-nuages-824639025766

Book resulting from the conference series Design the transition – year 1

The FBA and its partners are launching the first experimental workshop on the ecological transition of cities, intended for professionals in space management, players and students.

Design the Transition, Now. IMAGINING TRANSITIONAL URBAN REALMS Thursday, June 18th | 5 – 7 pm Video-debate For the final session of the series “Design the Transition, now”, the Braillard Architects Foundation, metrolab.brussels and LASUR Faculté de l’environnement naturel, architectural et construit ENAC – EPFL invite you to attend the presentations of Rob Hopkins and […]

Next conference: registration open!

Video of the debate available! Video of the debate available!

The video of the debat is now available!

From Athenaeum to transition: cities as a cradle of the transformative imagination The Geneva Athenaeum (the foundations of which house the Braillard Architects Foundation) bears a name that is not entirely trivial. Retracing its history goes back to Adrian, the Roman emperor of the Philhellenes, whose Atheneum housed the arts and letters in honor of […]

Discussion forum on the theme of the transition in the face of the pandemic crisis.

Video debate: In these times of great change and as part of the Design the Transition series, the Braillard Architects Foundation, Metrolab.Brussels and LASUR/EPFL invite you to an exceptional discussion session to open up the ecological and resilient horizon of our societies. How to interpret the current unprecedented situation through the prism of the ecological […]

Keynote speaker “The decarbonised city: back to Earth, back to the earth” Guillaume FABUREL, Professor, University Lumière Lyon 2, UMR Triangle The metropolitan urban regime could be characterised by a growing dematerialisation of economies. However, it should be noted that it also stands out through an increasing artificialisation of living spaces and an augmenting extractivism […]

A1 poster format (594×841 mm) Limited edition on Conqueror Laid paper 160 gr.

1st session of the Drawing the Transition III conference series, with: Edwin ZACCAI, doctor in environmental sciences, physical engineer and graduate in philosophy. Full professor at the Free University of Brussels. Director of the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CEDD). Author of the book “Two Degrees”, Les Presses de Science Po, 2019 Two degrees: societies […]

Programme of the series of conferences 2020 – Changes due to the pandemic!

The FBA contributed to this work, born from the exhibition "Under the same roof". To get as soon as possible!

Report on the Salève, its cable car and old funicular, with a visit to the Braillard Architects Foundation’s archives.

Modern city and contemporary city: facing the transition EXISTENZMINIMUM 90 years of the 2nd CIAM 24 September 2019 EPFL, Rolex Learning Center, Forum Rolex Route cantonale, 1015 Écublens See the call for contributions See the programme of the day (to come) The 5th Bernardo Secchi Study day is jointly organised by three entities: the Braillard […]

Book resulting from the Bernardo Secchi study day 2018.

Round table presentation to the Geneva public of the “Prospective Visions for Greater Geneva. To inhabit the landscape city of the 21st century” Consultation. With the 7 selected teams. Moderation: Panos Mantziaras, director of the FBA, and Pascal Schouwey, RTS activity leader. Info: https://www.ge.ch/dossier/explore

During this day, the 7 teams of the Consultation on the Greater Geneva met the experts for the second time. After a brief presentation of their projects to all the guests, they gave in-depth answers to the questions of three panels of experts during round tables. After this intense day organised at the sports complex […]

Locations Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Limited places, registration mandatory by email (click here to register) before Monday June 17th. Thank you for warning us about any withdrawal as soon as possible. Brussels: www.metrolab.brussels On January 27th, 2019, the medical journal “The Lancet” published a report on the “global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition and […]

MILANO ARCH WEEK 2019 – TRIENNALE MILANO Milano Arch Week is a week of lectures, conversations, workshops and itineraries on the main challenges of contemporary urban transformations. Milano Arch Week explores the future of architecture and cities through a polyphony of voices: architects, urban planners, landscape designers, scientists, philosophers, artists, and curators from all over […]

The circular economy is one of the pillars of contemporary European urban policies. In Brussels, for example, the Regional Circular Economy Plan aims to replace the current linear economic model with a circular economic system that is both competitive for companies on the markets and generates local jobs. What are the advances and obstacles encountered […]

In several cities, changing urban sites are the subject of a new body of practices classified under the expression “transitory urbanism”. This encompasses all initiatives that aim to temporarily reactivate local life on unoccupied land or buildings when the use of the site has not yet been decided or while a project is being created. […]

  The third places of social economy In Brussels, Geneva and elsewhere, there is a proliferation of a new generation of shared spaces (co-workings, fablabs, collaborative workshops, etc.). Listed under the name “third places”, these spaces are intermediate collective spaces, neither entirely public nor entirely private, which promote individuation and characterise specific temporalities and sociabilities. […]

Interview with Panos Mantziaras for Radio Cité about the exhibition. Work published by the Geneva Canton, following the exhibition: Heritage and architecture – Rooftops and shelter. Info on the Workshops and Conferences: Berges de Vessy site Timings Tuesday-Friday 13:00-17:00 Saturday-Sunday 10:00-17:00 Open for all | Free access Finding shelter. One of the founding acts of […]

Programme   Presentation of the series of conferences 2019   Bernard Declève, Architect engineer, Professor CULouvain, metrolab.brussels Panos Mantziaras, Director of the Braillard Architects Foundation Vincent Kaufmann, Urban sociology and Mobility analysis professor, Director of the LaSUR-EPFL Keynote speech DISMAL AESTHETICS   Fabio Merlini, Philosopher, Director of the SFIVET-Lugano, President of the Eranos Foundation since […]

Design the transition II Tools and devices for the ecological metropolis project   Programme Introduction to the series | February 28th The third places of social economy | March 28th Transitory occupations | April 25th Circular economy | May 23rd New metropolitan agriculture | June 20th Locations The seminars will be held simultaneously in Geneva […]

  Interview with two teams by Radio Cité Genève during the 1st Coordination seminar of the Greater Geneva Consultation: Resource Regions and On soil and work.

Public presentation of the 7 teams   The 1st Coordination seminar was held on the 11th of December 2018 at the Sicli Pavilion, organised by the Braillard Architects Foundation and the partners of the “Prospective Visions for Greater Geneva. To inhabit the landscape city of the 21st century” Consultation. During this Open House day, the […]

Publication on October 5th, 2018.   Resulting from the Bernardo Secchi day 2017, this book aims to redefine the role played by the project – project of cities and territories – within the social construction of hope. It aims to redefine the role played by the project – project of cities and territories – within […]

PDF of the Call for Contribution – BSD 2018 PDF of the Programme of September 25th PDF of the brochure (FR/EN) Watch the videos of the day   This year we are celebrating 90 years since the La Sarraz Declaration. As it has been close to a century since that moment so significant for the […]

The Braillard Architects Foundation (FBA), member of the Berges de Vessy Association (ABV), together with the Initiative to Value Human Life Foundation (IVHL), organised a round table called “Human Urgency and Human Value” at the Berges de Vessy on Wednesday September 19th. Within the framework of the Urgence humanitaire exhibition, this event was organised by […]

From September 5th to 9th, 2018 in Ascona, Ticino The Braillard Architects Foundation inaugurates its collaboration with the Eranos Foundation within the framework of conferences that the latter organises each year in Ascona, Ticino, with subjects tackling the great questions of our time with philosophy. The 2018 edition of Eranos Tagungen addresses the concepts of […]

The Salève cable car: for a shared territory   Guided tour organised as part of the Heritage Days 2018.   Brochure Inaugurated in 1932, the Salève cable car was hailed as a technological and architectural avant-garde achievement. The result of a collaboration between a promoter from Haute-Savoie, engineers from Paris and Genava and the architect […]

On the initiative of the Braillard Architects Foundation, a consortium of partners is launching the urban-architectural and landscape consultation entitled “Prospective Visions for Greater Geneva. To inhabit the landscape city of the 21st century” Consultation. International and interdisciplinary, its ambition is to gather elements of knowledge and to develop scenarios of evolution by the project […]

Programme of the closing session   Part 1 REMINDER OF THE FIVE SESSIONS Hélène Gallezot, Braillard Architects Foundation THE TRANSITION: QUESTION OF VALUES Panos Mantziaras, Braillard Architects Foundation   First debate Sharing of the room and then the speakers on the following questions: At the end of this series, how do you see the challenges […]

See the video Programme   Brussels Case   Thomas Dawance, chargé de projet au sein du Community Land Trust de Bruxelles. The Community Land Trust: Building the city on common land The Community Land Trust (CLT) is an American model of land management created at the end of the 1960s. It allows low-income households to […]

See the video Programme   Case study of Brussels   Benjamin Cadranel, general administrator of Citydev.BrusselsProduction in the city to build the city To cope with the demographic boom of these next decades, the Brussels-Capital Region is striving to develop housing but also to nurture productive activities that are useful to the City. On the […]

Interview with the director of the Braillard Architects Foundation, in the context of the “Utopian coffees” organised for the 30th anniversary of the AUPB (association des usagers des Bains des Pâquis). ARCHITECTURE AND THE NEW SUSTAINABLE UTOPIAS In 2016, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s book “Utopia”. The English humanist […]

See the video Programme   Case study 1   BETWEEN CITIZENS’ EXCITEMENT AND PUBLIC STRATEGY: CRITICAL VIEWS, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FOOD TRANSITION IN BRUSSELS François Lohest, political scientist, Centre for Sustainable Development Studies, ULB   Case study 2   METROPOLITAN AGRICULTURE AROUND LAKE GENEVA: A RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS Elena Cogato Lanza, Teaching and Research […]

Tuesday-Friday 13:00-17:00 Saturday-Sunday 10:00-17:00 Until October 31st – Free access Les Berges de Vessy, 49 route de Vessy, 1234 Vessy www.lesbergesdevessy.ch   A round table called Human Urgency and Human Value took place in parallel with the exhibition. While the Swiss Red Cross takes us to destinations where disaster prevention and aid to the population […]

PROGRAMME   Case study 1   THE BRUSSELS HYPERCENTRE: FROM PEDESTRIAN AREA TO URBAN PROJECT BSI/Brussels Center Observatory Dr. Aniss M. Mezoued & Pr. Jean-Philippe De Visscher, CULouvain   Case study 2   NEW MOBILITY SOLUTIONS IN THE CANTON OF GENEVA: LINES OF THOUGHT AND PROJECTS Sylvain FERRETTI, Secretary-General of the Office of Urbanism of […]

Listen to the seminar (radio programme) Programme   Introduction to the cycle   THE ANTHROPOCENE AS PROJECT HORIZON Bernard Declève, Metrolab Brussels FROM RENEWAL TO URBAN TRANSITION: THE CHALLENGE OF THE 21ST CENTURY Panos Mantziaras, FBA Keynote speech   COMPETITION OF STORIES Dominique Bourg, philosopher, professor – Institute of Geography and Sustainability, Faculty of Geosciences […]

  The Braillard Architects Foundation and Metrolab Brussels, in collaboration with the University of Geneva and the Catholic University of Louvain – faced with the challenge of ecological transition – organised the first series of six monthly seminars aimed at exploring the new role of space transformation disciplines (architecture, town planning, landscaping). Set up in […]

Project presentation brochure   CONTEXT   The COP21 held in Paris in December 2015 concluded with a historic agreement on the measures to be taken in the face of global warming, specifically indicating the urban challenge as one of the major worksites of the twenty-first century. Life sciences, experimental and exact sciences, human and social […]

Presentation   Work published following the Bernardo Secchi Day 2016 Today, there is no guarantee that human societies can evolve sustainably. Insofar as this project represents our only possible collective horizon, it will be both the cause and the result of a drastic change in our lifestyles which will not succeed without everyone’s voluntary support. […]

SEE THE VIDEO PROGRAMME   INAUGURAL SPEECH: WHICH CITIES TO ENTER THE ANTHROPOCENE? Dominique BOURG, Philosopher, Full professor, Institute of Geography and Sustainability, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, University of Lausanne.   Session 1: Theory and history   BETWEEN “ARCOLOGY”, THE “LOCAL PROJECT” AND THE “HORIZONTAL METROPOLIS”: CONFRONTING THE DILEMMAS OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN HORIZONTALITY Christian […]

Public Space and Local Democracy in Contemporary Athens   Democracy week – Town planning fortnight   Urban public space as an object of analysis and a subject of action is often posited to be a core symbol of the collective will. Greek cities, beset by acute current problems but also shaped by long term historical […]

The Braillard Architects Foundation (FBA) celebrated its 30th anniversary by organising an event oriented towards the future. To follow the visionary line of its founders, it prepared a round table with a certain number of personalities from political, scientific, artistic and professional circles to discuss the future of the Greater Geneva in the perspective of […]

WIPO, the power of ideas   Guided tour organised as part of the European Heritage Days 2017   PDF BROCHURE Programme:   Georg Bodenhausen 1 building Pierre Braillard, 1958-1960 Arpad Bogsch tower Pierre Braillard, 1974-1978 PCT building Favre & Guth, renovation 2000-2003 New building Behnisch Architekten, 2008-2011 WIPO conference hall Behnisch Architekten, 2011-2014

SEE THE VIDEO Anne VEUTHEY, geographer and landscaper, presents “Au dessus des toits” (Over the rooftops), a master’s thesis in territorial development, training offered by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Geneva School of Engineering, Architecture and Landscape (Haute École du Paysage, de l’Ingénieur et de Architecture, HEPIA).   Geneva debate | Metropolises and […]

SEE THE VIDEO   Jean-Louis Cohen, Architect, doctor in art history, architecture and urban planning historian, New York University   The New York metropolis, or the untraceable region   New York was the first city to be the subject of a regional plan, started in 1923 and completed in 1929, under the leadership of George […]

The bee, mirror of Man? Exhibition   The cultural bee Participation in this exhibition by the Braillard Architects Foundation, in collaboration with Patrimoine Suisse Genève, consisted of a non-exhaustive inventory of the bee figure in all its forms through art and architecture. The Berges de Vessy welcome you for a journey into the fantastic world […]

Christine Lutringer, Political scientist, lecturer/researcher, EPFL Luca Pattaroni, Doctor of sociology, lecturer/researcher, EPFL   Planning the heterogeneous city: controversy arenas of the Mumbai plan 2014-34   This conference will examine the revision and temporary suspension of the Mumbai Development Plan 2014-2034 (MDP 2034) following the mobilisation of civil society and strong criticism from experts. This […]

SEE THE VIDEO Bertrand Lemoine, architect engineer, doctor in history, former secretary-general of the International workshop of the Greater Paris. Megapolis on a “grand” scale: Paris-Moscow Paris and Moscow are the two big megalopolises of continental Europe. Beyond their similarities (history, national importance, demographic weight, riverside position, radio-concentric structure, rapid 20th-century expansion, centre-periphery contrast, etc.), […]

SEE THE VIDEOMichael HEBBERT, historian, doctor in geography, professor, Bartlett School of Planning, University College London Greater London through the prism of the ecological transition London is a valuable case study of the interplay between metropolitan management and environmental performance. Until World War II, it was known for its unlimited, polycentric and low density structure. […]

Celina KRESS, Engineer-architect, doctor in history, lecturer and researcher at the Center for Metropolitan Studies, TU Berlin Gross-Berlin Unlimited? From urban growth to new city-countryside connectivity   After decades of stagnation, Berlin’s population is growing rapidly again. Recent development reminds of the dynamics, aspirations and visions of the beginning of the 20th century. Berlin was […]

The first decade of our millennium was marked by the shift of most humans into an urban environment. We have known this since the beginning of industrialisation: cities are becoming metropolises; metropolises are turning into mega-cities; city regions, city territories and city landscapes are multiplying. With each change of scale, complex political and socio-economic changes […]

CONTEXT   The COP21 in December 2015 in Paris concluded with a historic agreement on the measures to be taken in the face of global warming. It specifically pointed to the urban challenge as one of the major projects of the 21st century. Life sciences, experimental and exact sciences, and human and social sciences are […]

Presentation   Work published resulting from the Bernardo Secchi Day 2015 The ground has remained long buried during the construction of cities. Lost among the foundations of our infrastructures, under the cellars of our buildings or the coating of our streets, it remains a resource that is too often ignored by urban modernity, which has […]

Exhibitions: Nature, energies and heritage The Berges de Vessy are on display! The house of the future presents two exhibitions “Nature, energies and heritage” and “Keepers”.   “Nature, energies and heritage” (on the ground floor) The Berges de Vessy association (Braillard Architects Foundation, H2O-Energies, Patrimoine suisse Genève, Pro Natura Genève, Industrial Services of Geneva and […]

SEE +   Bernardo Secchi day 2016   The city of the rich and the city of the poor The Braillard Architects Foundation (FBA) organized the Bernardo Secchi Study Day with the Laboratory of Urbanism (Lab-U) of EPFL and the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID). The Day took place as part […]

Living tomorrow in a low-density city | Intensive prospective analysis workshop at the Berges de Vessy 24 September – 1 October 2016 The Swiss Federal Law on Spatial Planning – known as LAT 2013 – is a radical game-changer regarding the objectives and modalities of Swiss urban planning for the years to come. It imposes […]

Towards new green porosities   From Palais Wilson to Place des Nations   Brochure of the guided tour Programme   Square Château Banquet Maurice, Pierre and Charles Braillard (buildings), Bernard Muller (landscape architecture), 1953-1957 Hanging garden, rue des Garages Pierre Deléamont, Maurice Braillard and Louis Vial, Peyrot & Bourrit, Jean Calometti, 1912-1932 Square Foyer Sécheron […]

SEE THE VIDEO   Round table facilitated by: Sylvie ANDREU, Journalist and author, specialist in urban, landscape and territorial issues. With: Nicola BRAGHIERI, Architect, professor at EPFL, director of the architecture section ENAC/EPFL. Rémi PAPILLAULT, Architect town planner, professor at ENSA Toulouse, administrator of the Le Corbusier Foundation. Yannis TSIOMIS, Architect town planner, director of […]

SEE THE VIDEO   Raphaël MÉNARD, Architect engineer, professor at EPFL, co-manager of the design office Elioth (Egis Concept) In the past, in cities, energy came from the ground. In the past, that was before there was gas on all floors and before the electricity fairy was introduced into all rooms. In the past, the […]

SEE THE VIDEO   With: Adrien BESSON, Architect engineer, doctor in sciences EPFL, founding member of the architectural firm group8, Geneva Alain LÉVEILLÉ, Architect engineer and town planner, former head of the Research Centre of CRR urban renovation of the Institute of architecture of the University of Geneva Michèle TRANDA-PITTION, Architect and town planner, teaching […]

SEE THE VIDEO   Dominique ROUILLARD, Architect, professor at the National School of Architecture of Paris-Malaquais, director of the research unit LIAT. Founding member of the architecture and town planning agency Architecture Action.   Faced with environmental and planetary issues, the speaker called for the establishment of a pragmatic vision, far from the apocalyptic and […]

SEE THE VIDEO   Inès LAMUNIÈRE, Architect, professor EPFL, director of LAMU/EPFL, founding member of the architectural firm Designlab-architecture, Geneva   The grandiose visionary projects that Hugh Ferris or Le Corbusier proposed in the early 1930s still haunt our minds. They envisioned a city that would effectively combine urbanisation and transport infrastructure. Is the utopia […]

SEE THE VIDEO   Jean-Louis VIOLEAU, Sociologist, professor at the ENSA Paris Malaquais, director of the research unit ACS-UMR AUSser MCC/CNRS 3329   Well adapted, calm and compliant, in short conformist: being fully of one’s time prevents one from observing it up close in order to better understand it. The present has become so overwhelming […]

Articulating its scientific function and public role in a single series of events, the Braillard Architects Foundation pursues its mission based on the observation of the impact of urbanisation on the ecological balance. Called ‘Anthropocene’, the current era of our Earth during which the transformations caused by humans are becoming significant, even dominant and above […]

SEE + SEE THE VIDEO PROGRAMME   Introduction   URBAN SOIL: AN INERT SURFACE OR A LIVING RESOURCE? Elena HAVLICEK, Pedologist – Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication, Federal Office of Environment, Department of Substances, Soil and Biotechnology THE GROUND IN THE HORIZONTAL METROPOLIS Paola VIGANÒ, Architect – professor Laboratory of Urbanism, Swiss […]

The rise of storytelling in urban planning is concomitant with the end of what have been called great narratives. The narrative of town planning, as Secchi defined it in the 1980s – namely a progressive and emancipatory rhetoric associated with the transformations of the city – gives way to simply introducing a plot of urban […]

To close the conferences series “Visions for Geneva” organised in 2007 by the Braillard Architectes Foundation on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, this work examines – from a sustainability perspective – the territorial dynamics underway within the French-Swiss agglomeration. The “Greater Geneva” is broached from different angles: identity, institutions, politics and economy, but also […]

Pierre Braillard Half a century of architecture in Geneva Pierre Braillard, Pierre Braillard Editions, Monaco, 2007 Book retracing the years of profession from 1932 to 1982. 425 pages. Available in French from the Foundation.

Challenge of the new Geneva, peremptory and timeless, the Master plan of 1935 brings together four urban planners: Maurice Braillard, head of the Department of Public Works, Albert Bodmer, Hans Bernoulli and Arnold Hoechel. A reflection on the theme of rejuvenating cities – developed by Braillard and his partners in 1929 – is attained with […]

At the dawn of the 21st century, the people of Geneva rejected two major urban development projects in quick succession. The first concerned the Place des Nations, the second the Place Neuve, two strategic locations in the city. This succession of failures of the policy led by the authorities in terms of urban planning was […]

By 1914, the physical and social space of the city of Ugine in the Savoie department was disrupted by the construction of electric steelmaking plants. In order to attract and secure the necessary labour force to operate the factories near the production site, the industrialist Paul GIROD and his architect Maurice BRAILLARD designed an original […]

Exhibition at the Rath Museum in Geneva From April 1st to May 30th, 1993 Exhibition curator: Ursula Paravicini Architects-museographers: Michel Buri and Serge Candolfi See the Publication resulting from the exhibition

Maurice Braillard Swiss Pioneer of Modern Architecture Ursula Paravicini and Pascal Amphoux, Braillard Architects Foundation, 1993 Book published for the exhibition “Maurice Braillard, pionnier suisse de l’architecture moderne” presented at the Musée Rath in Geneva from April 1st to May 30th, 1993. Available in French and German from the Foundation. Shop See the page dedicated […]

Maurice Braillard Architect & urban planner Marina Massaglia Aït-Ahmed, Braillard Architects Foundation, Georg Éditeur, 1991 First monograph on Maurice Braillard. Available in French and German from the Foundation. Shop