IBM Headquarters

IBM, as one of the first and leading global companies in future technologies, stands for both creativity and solidity at the same time. The objective of the design for the IBM headquarters in Zurich Alstetten was to architecturally represent innovation and the willingness to take risks on the one hand and, at the same time, tradition and a sense of responsibility on the other. The natural stone facades are interrupted by large-dimension window surfaces (in the sense of a concurrence of solidity and transparency). Their design was radically simplified in the details so that the building sometimes appears to be a house, sometimes more of a sculpture and at other times a diaphanous urban relief. An internal, central square, the “Agora”, brings the complex together and serves as a place of exchange and encounter.

photos: Walter Mair, René Dürr