Two years of work have led up to the official opening – on 23 June, Olympic Day, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) celebrates its 125th anniversary – of the new ‘home’ of this institution, 22,000 square meters in Lausanne, Switzerland, in a facility with offices for 500 people presently operating in four different facilities.
The Olympic House is a work of architecture by the Danish studio 3XN, developed in collaboration with the Swiss firm Itten Brechbühl as local architect, and the Italian studio RBS Group of Nora Trentini and Chiara Costanzelli for the interior design. In an era of self-referential bravado, this project takes discretion to iconic levels, in a landmark of reference for the community (not just local).
The approach draws new functional necessities from the interior towards the outside, built around the people who work in the building, which synthetically, effectively and symbolically interprets the fundamental concepts of the Olympic Movement – dynamism, flexibility, transparency and sustainability and cooperation – in an all-around form. A sort of corporate philosophy deployed with the parametric tools of design.
The Olympic House stands at the eastern end of a protected green area, the Louis-Bourget Park of Vidy on the shores of Lac Leman, combining an archaeological site, the 18th-century Château de Vidy and a dense forest to the west.
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