Em2N Architekten Berlin GmbH

Swiss Cinémathèque

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet

Swiss Cinémathèque

EM2N

ARCHITECTS
Em2n

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Bettina Baumberger, Jean-baptiste Joye, Roger Küng

ACOUSTICS
Applied Acoustics Gmbh

GEOLOGIST / GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER
De Cérenville Géotechnique, Ecublens

MANUFACTURERS
As Aufzüge Ag, Forster Archiv- Und Verkehrstechnik Gmbh, Norba

CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANCY
Brandenberg + Ruosch Ag, Bern

FACADE PLANNING
Zurich, Basler & Hofmann Ag

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
Ibg B. Graf Ag Engineering Ag, Josef Piller Sa, Betelec

BUILDING PHYSICS
Kopitsis Bauphysik Ag

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
Aplanir Sarl, Tekhne Sa

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Studio Vulkan Landschaftsarchitektur

CIVIL ENGINEER
Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure Ag, Boss & Associés Ingénieurs Conseils Sa

DESIGN TEAM
Ruben Daluz, Phillippe Jorisch, Yoshihiro Nagamine, Noémi Necker, Miriam Rollwa

PROJECT TEAM
Julia Berger, Stefan Berle, Laurent Chassot, Nadine Coetzee, Nicolas De Courten, Pascal Deschenaux, Melih Dilsiz, Yann Dubied, Ramona Elmiger, Amélie Fibicher, Marita Gelze De Montiel, Gregor Goldinger, Sebastian Knorr, Robert Kuijper, Andreas Lahti, Andrea Landell, Minka Ludwig, Raúl Mera, Stéphanie Morel, Klaudija Oroshi, Fabien Oulevay, Jeremias Pellaton, Bernard Radi, Adriano Reis, Tanja Schmid, Daniela Sigg, Eva-noemi Thiele, Agata Tyszecka, Danessa Urquiola, Jonas Von Wartburg, Sven Ziegler, Michael Zürcher

PARTNERS
Mathias Müller, Daniel Niggli

FIRE PROTECTION
Cr Conseils Sàrl, Oron-la-ville

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT / CONSTRUCTION REALISATION
Tekhne Sa, Lausanne / Aplanir Sarl, Echallens

TRAFFIC PLANNING
Ibv Hüsler Ag, Zurich

POLLUTANT SECURITY
Hpb Consulting

PLANNING AND COORDINATION HEATING / VENTILATION / AIR CONDITIONING / COOLING TECHNOLOGY AND SANITARY
Gruenberg + Partner Ag, Zurich

MOTION DESIGN
La Boite Visual Art, L’immagine Ritrovata

HVAC
Gruenberg + Partner Ag, Zurich

SANITARY
Gruenberg + Partner Ag, Zurich

CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANCY
Brandenberg + Ruosch Ag, Bern

FAÇADE PLANNING
Basler & Hofmann Ag, Zurich

FIRE PROTECTION
Cr Conseils Sàrl, Oron-la-ville

GEOLOGIST/ GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER
De Cérenville Géotechnique, Ecublens

TRAFFIC PLANNING
Ibv Hüsler Ag, Zurich

CLIENT
Federal Office For Buildings And Logistics Fbl

SECURITY
Holliger Consult, Epsach

AREA
13110 M²

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Penthaz, Switzerland

CATEGORY
Cultural Architecture

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet
Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet

Text description provided by architect.

Paradoxically, the charm of the existing Cinémathèque lay in its simple and utilitarian appearance.

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet
Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet

The home of the national collective film memory presented itself as an unpretentious accumulation of sheds that was focused more on contents than on packaging.

The extension project accepts this starting point and makes it its own. New additions and remodeling into a composite, ambivalent form of parallel buildings of different lengths translate the layout of the existing buildings, which are arranged linearly alongside each other.

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet
Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet

Only making a number of angled cuts differentiates the end situation; in this way the building acquires a face. The principle of placing buildings alongside each other is evident in the interior, too.

The three main circulation routes, which are placed above one another, pass through the parallel cross-walls at right angles, allowing the sequential arrangement of the ‘individual’ buildings to be experienced.

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet
Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet

Windows in turn connect the suspended conference rooms in the two-storey entrance and exhibition hall with each other.

When looking across and through the building this produces a perspective depth while also suggesting associations to filmic processes such as montage and cutting.

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet
Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet

While the public areas and all work places are concentrated in Penthaz I, the archive itself on the far side of the road is conceived as a purely underground storage space.

In this way the functional and atmospheric side effects are restricted to an absolute minimum.

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet
Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet

Penthaz II is a kind of super-functional bunker that ensures the best possible protection for the culturally valuable artefacts.

In a simple manner a kind of urban disposition is achieved that, on the one hand, reacts to the expansiveness of the nearby agricultural landscape and on the other gives Cinémathèque Suisse as an institution an emphatically clear address.

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet
Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet

The new envelope of rusted steel, an industrial material that emanates a sensual quality, encases the entire complex and binds the new and the existing parts together.

The gradual weathering of this natural material is a reference to the archive’s function in preserving film and gives the complex a differentiated identity of its own.

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet
Swiss Cinémathèque
© Roger Frei

The modulated, condensed roofs cape composed of gently sloping, planted roofs takes up the theme of industrial production facilities or film studios.

Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet
Swiss Cinémathèque
© Damian Poffet


Swiss Cinémathèque
Cross and longitudinal sections


Swiss Cinémathèque
Site plan
Swiss Cinémathèque
Basement floor
Swiss Cinémathèque
Ground floor
Swiss Cinémathèque
First floor plan

Em2N Architekten Berlin GmbH
T +49 30 585834630 F +49 30 585834632
Em2N Architekten Berlin GmbH
Brunnenstraße 9, 10119 Berlin, Germany