Our competition proposal for the extension of the World Health Organisation Headquarters (WHO) in Geneva sought to unify the existing building into a singular, holistic composition, completing the vision originally set out by architect Jean Tschumi. The design intended to embrace the principle of ‘adding one to make one’, extending the western wing eastwards to bring clarity, efficiency, and spatial continuity to the site.
The proposed massing intended to carefully complement the power and elegance of the original building. A new horizontal volume would establish a composed foreground to the south-east elevation, gradually rising to cantilever above the main access road. This would not only consolidate the complex but also provide an opportunity to include a new green roof park above, offering accessible green space and enhancing user wellbeing. At its core, a landscaped courtyard would introduce light, air, and a spill-out space to the adjacent exhibition and conference spaces included within the proposed scheme.
The main office accommodation is placed alongside the elevated eastern edge of the building, creating 12,610 sqm of office space across six floors. The offices are encased in a folding roof-plane, which doubles as a sustainable reactive envelope. Designed with sustainability at its core, a series of passive measures were integrated into the roof’s detail design to minimise solar gain, including energy generating PV panels, a green roof and planting beds descending to the roof park to enrich the visual and physical amenity. Additional program also includes a 2,788 sq. m restaurant and cafeteria, new meeting rooms, and dedicated parking space for its users.
The sweeping, unifying, folding form laid out as a richly crafted carpet in front of the existing building, offering a unique and singular contemporary image of embrace and support. Driven by contextual, functional and sustainable concerns, the proposals aimed to create an image befitting of the hope and security inherent in the mission of the World Health Organization.