Monday, September 14, 2009

Visa Section of Swiss Embassy | EXH | Architecture

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Shanghai-based design studio EXH Design have completed the extension to the visa savilion of the Swiss Embassy in Beijing.

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The extension consists of a glass and bamboo façade over a
steel structure. Included within the new section are offices, a meeting room
and a server room



.

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Visa section of Swiss embassy
Client: Swiss federal office of construction and logistic
Architect: EXH design

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The existing visa pavilion built in 1999 is a solid building in concrete and brick. It cannot meet the increasing request of visas any more. We were approached to enlarge the working areas and provide a fresh representation of Switzerland in China.

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The concept is to ‘see the history through the decade’.

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We keep the old brick building, which witnessed the accelerated pace of change in China; and extended it with a lightweight glass facade, through which the inside bricks still can be seen. Two kinds of architecture are overlapped in across time.

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The facade is an abstract collection of Chinese characters with Swiss simplicity, which hides the steel structure.

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Bamboo is used as exterior and interior material to indicate the context – China.

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Both Chinese and Swiss visitors will sense a familiar impression. The existing building contents as today the waiting area for visitors, the counters and the offices of the Visa section.

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The extension contents additional offices, a small meeting room, a server room and toilets.

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An air lock and a canopy will be added to the visitors’ entrance.

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The roof of the extension will be planted (extensive lawn system) for energy saving reasons floor and roof will be well insulated.


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Low-e glazing will be used in facade. A floor heating, ceiling cooling sys¬tem with ventilation for fresh air meet a high quality of comfort.

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The existing pavilion and his extension will be fully supplied by the existing technical installations in the basement of the chancellery.

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