Large roof covered with ETFE film, a high-performance membrane material, is completed on the new Swatch Group building.
~Facility that combines different brands by combining ETFE film and wood, designed by Shigeru Ban~.
2020.02.19
February 19, 2020
Taiyo Kogyo Corporation
Taiyo Kogyo Corporation (Tokyo headquarters: Setagaya-ku, Tokyo; Osaka headquarters: Yodogawa-ku, Osaka; President: Hidefumi Araki), a “membrane manufacturer” involved in large-scale membrane surface structures (tent structures), has been involved in the design, manufacture and installation of the large ETFE film roof over the new Swatch Group headquarters building.
Taiyo Kogyo’s local subsidiary (Taiyo Europe GmbH) has received an order for an ETFE film roof for the new Swatch Group headquarters in Bienne, Canton Bern, Switzerland. The new building, designed by Shigeru Ban Architects (Setagaya-ku, Tokyo; President: Shigeru Ban), will house the Swatch Group headquarters, the Omega factory for luxury watches belonging to the Swatch Group, and an exhibition hall and museum, and will be covered by a semi-cylindrical roof.
Designed to bridge the different brands, the free-thinking Swatch and the high-quality, solid OMEGA, the roof is characterized by a geometric grid of heavily curved wooden frames. Taiyo Europe GmbH was contracted to design, manufacture, and install the ETFE film cushions that form part of the main roof, which is 240 meters long by 35 meters wide and has a maximum height of 27 meters. The cushions cover a total area of approximately 3,800 square meters and require high-precision design and fabrication techniques to ensure that the cushions are installed seamlessly within the three-dimensionally curved wooden framework.
During the construction of the new building, which took approximately five years, Taiyo Europe GmbH completed the construction of the ETFE film cushions by April 2018, and the inauguration ceremony of the new building was successfully held on October 3, 2019.
Taiyo Europe GmbH has worked with Mr. Shigeru Ban, who has worked on many structures that utilize wood, and Taiyo Europe GmbH has also undertaken the symbolic membrane roof combining wood and membrane materials at the Pompidou Center Messe in Metz, France (completed in 2010). Taiyo Kogyo Corporation will continue to participate in world-class projects and deliver high value-added spaces.
About Taiyo Europe GmbH
Founded: 2004
President: Frank Höreth
Location: Sauerlach, Germany
About Swatch Omega Headquarters Building
Client: The Swatch Group (Switzerland)
Designed by Shigeru Ban Architects (Japan)
Construction: Roschmann Konstruktionen aus Stahl und Glas GmbH (Germany)