The brief of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an international department of the United Nations, is to protect intellectual property. A new administrative building has been added to its headquarters in the international district of Geneva by Behnisch Architekten. The offices for around 500 employees are grouped around three spacious atria. Inner gardens over two storeys as well as spacious staircase areas promote informal communication. Flexibility in size and in use were two of the most important requirements in the office planning. Special adapter profiles that are easy and fast to relocate were built to connect to the façade to make it possible to reconstruct offices, enlarge them or reduce their size. This means the crosswalls of the offices can be repositioned. Floral patterns decorate the glass walls on the corridor side. The screen-printed images are present throughout – even over the doors. The inside, on the office side, was not to be transparent which is why the inner lower panels are veneered and varnished in different colours.

WIPO, Genf

Architekt: Behnisch Architekten, Stuttgart