Power and freedom in the spirit of the exemplary industrial city

The Arteplage Biel-Bienne was designed by two teams of architects: Coop Himmelb(l)au was responsible for the buildings on the lake and the architecture company GLS Gebert, Liechti, Schmid for those on land.

The Viennese architects' collective Coop Himmelb(l)au was noticeably attracted by the urban industrial city. The construction of the platform could have been an allusion to an aircraft carrier or originated from a General Motors factory building, and the three deconstructivist towers as symbols of power could just as well have been landmarks of the city of Biel-Bienne. The roof of the forum, together with the platform floating above the water, formed two layers of space that created order. In between, there was room for individual freedom, for installations, exhibitions, pavilions - an urban situation. The building was remodelled, extended, demolished and repurposed.

Concept, architecture and design (Forum)
Coop Himmelb(l)au, Vienna, Austria (Forum) www.coop-himmelblau.at
Wolf D. Prix (Project Manager)
Michael Volk (Project Partner)
Paul Kath (Project Architect)
Marc Paulin (Design Architect)
Gerhard Rieder (Project Coordination)
Wolfgang Leitgeb (Project Team)
Sigrid Steinweder (Project Team)

_{Photos: © Coop Himmelb(l)au}