Swissness! Lehni delivers bespoke solutions for La Prairie's stunning new offices

‘We wanted to avoid the issue of who gets a lake view,’ explains Marius Dahler, Global Head of Real Estate at La Prairie, ‘by making sure everyone gets one.’

When the premium Swiss cosmetics brand made the literal, and culturally transformative, move from a somewhat tired, out-of-town set of offices to a 1970s landmark building in Zurich, it was determined to achieve a level of transparency to match – if you’ll allow me the metaphor – the clarity of complexion its skincare products deliver.

The democratisation of ‘that view’ from La Prairie’s new digs was facilitated by the decision to locate all the meeting and collaboration rooms in the wing overlooking the lake, optimised, in turn, by the decision to replace the small, mullion-heavy fenestration of the structure’s original facade with expansive, full-height glazing. Just one of a raft of immaculately considered design moves the architects took to deliver a modern and sustainable building.

‘We worked very closely with the engineers to optimise the structure, moving from a 1.2m to a 2.4m column grid in the facade,’ explains Thue Borgen Hasløv of go-to Danish practice CF Møller, ‘thereby giving a lighter architectural appearance and more transparency to the exterior.’

Inside, meanwhile, the architects cut through several floorplates to create a striking, four-storey-high aperture, which functions, with its sculpturally sweeping staircase, as a kind of town square – a grand circulation space, but also one of connection and chance encounters.

When it came to specifying the furniture and fittings at Bellerivestrasse 36, on the other hand, nothing was left to chance. Marius Dahler, from La Prairie, made sure to select products that would help fashion an environment where staffers actually enjoy spending time, and spending time with each other. In short, a place where sofas are as important as task chairs.

It was La Prairie’s sustainability commitment, a key part of which is to source as locally as possible, that helped inform its decision to partner with 100-year-old Swiss manufacturer Lehni for its new, bespoke locker system. The manufacturer set to work, taking their existing office shelving system – a bestseller – and evolving it, via a rapid prototyping and iteration process with their client, into not only a viable, but also an ultra-elegant, locker programme.

‘We understood each other from the first moment,’ says Lehni co-owner Benedetta Agostini. ‘For us, the opportunity of working with a company like La Prairie and developing something really new for them was very exciting.’

Consisting almost entirely of just one material – Lehni’s signature bent-sheet aluminium – save for a few steel screws, and featuring a handleless aluminium door element drawn from the brand’s kitchen portfolio, the result is a supremely modular product that can respond to changing organisational needs. Clean architectural lines are maintained by eschewing digital readers on each of the doors for a single, central unit. Here, users can tap their badges and are directed to a particular locker.

The sheet aluminium used – long-lasting, light and highly recyclable – is just 1.5 mm in width, and has also been deployed in the open Lehni shelving found in the same offices, used for administrative storage and as space division, as well as for the specially designed vitrines installed in La Prairie’s on-site laboratories. ‘We always focus on functionality at Lehni,’ explains Agostini, ‘but with aesthetics. Because we’re architects. What we design and produce is what we like.’

Lehni is ‘Swiss-made’ through the line, with design, production and administration all located in Switzerland. The majority of its manufacturing, a large part of which is still manual, takes place at its factory in Dübendorf, which was designed by modernist architect Ernst Gisel. Its century in business has made its name synonymous with expert metalwork.

Apart from being durable, its products bear the hallmark of sustainability, moving as they do within a circular economy. Not only do their timeless designs and sophisticated construction lend them longevity, but they are also reparable (Lehni offers a repair and refurb service) and perform well on the second-hand market.

For Lehni, beauty is more than skin-deep.

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