Maison de la Paix Presentation

Page 1

MAISON DE LA PAIX

Project Manager and Owner >

The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

Project Management >

Philippe Burrin – Pierre Gilliot – Pierre Guth – Nicole Perret

Architect >

Eric Ott, Bureau IPAS, Neuchâtel

General Contractor

The first project, launched in 1994 by the canton of Geneva, aimed to construct several buildings around the Place des Nations in Geneva for the IUHEI, its library and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. The project was ultimately rejected in a public referendum in 1998. The Swiss Confederation, led by the Federal Department of Defence, developed a new proposal in the early 2000s to house the IUHEI and the three centres, identifying land between Chemin

Steiner SA

Rigot and the railway line, using the name “Maison de la paix” for

MINERGIE® Label

the first time. Due to financing difficulties, this second project was

>

also abandoned.

Brief history

The third attempt was, however, successful. Under the guidance

The Maison de la paix is the culmination of several projects

of the Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs and Charles

launched over the last twenty years in response to concerns and

Kleiber, State Secretary for Education and Research, the project

objectives shared by Swiss federal and cantonal authorities:

was redefined to account for the planned merger of the IUHEI and

Switzerland’s commitment, laid down in a headquarters

IUED and the new institution’s need for space. Unlike previous

agreement with the World Trade Organization, to move the

projects, in which funding and execution were the responsibility of

Graduate Institute’s library, previously located in the basement

public authorities, it was jointly agreed that the new Institute would

of that organisation’s building

take responsibility, own the building and bear the financial risk of

The growing scarcity of classroom and office space for the

operating it. In return the Confederation, along with the canton

IUHEI and the IUED, the two institutes that eventually merged

of Geneva, offered a guarantee on rent payments from the three

in 2008 to form the Graduate Institute

centres in order to secure a bank loan and granted a construction

The need to house three centres dedicated to the civil

subsidy as part of their investment in higher education.

>

>

>

promotion of peace, established between 1995 and 2000 with

All of these projects had the underlying objective to reinforce

the support of the Swiss Confederation: the Geneva Centre for

International Geneva and increase the Institute’s capacity and

Security Policy, the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control

scope by enhancing synergies with other Confederation-supported

of Armed Forces, and the Geneva International Centre for

institutions.

Humanitarian Demining


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Maison de la Paix Presentation by The Graduate Institute - Geneva - Issuu