Kunik de Morsier architectes Design Audemars Piguet Manufacture Adapted to the Contemporary Needs of Fine Watchmaking

 

AUDEMARS PIGUET WATCH MANUFACTURE – Audemars Piguet is definitely the leader of fine making in the watch industry. Their influence goes much beyond the timepieces and impacts arts and creation on a broad sphere. In Switzerland, the industry is facing many challenges and it is essential for many companies to reinvent their way of working. For AP we have designed a Manufacture as a tool perfectly adapted to the contemporary needs of Fine Watchmaking, and flexible enough to adapt to future industrial changes.

Architizer chatted with Guillaume de Morsier and Valentin Kunik, Founders at Kunik de Morsier architecte, to learn more about this project.

Architizer: What inspired the initial concept for your design?

Guillaume de Morsier & Valentin Kunik: The Manufacture is a place that enhance one’s relation to the environment, the nature and the natural sun path. It offers to all the collaborators and the visitors a unique experience of time. Every single moment is different and unique.

The Manufacture is not a standard facility but rather it is an experience. The architecture is inspired by the atmospheres and the surrounding geographies. Momentum of Nature are identified and reinterpreted as architectural spaces. It gives the shape and the ambiance to every room. They are all made with different materials, lights and colors reflecting thus the Momentums of Nature.

What do you believe is the most unique or ‘standout’ component of the project?

The building designed is user centered. The spaces of the factory are organised according to the needs (both physical and atmospherical) of the activities in terms of daylight. The different spaces benefit from natural light, which creates a rich and dynamic interior landscape. The administrative and R&D spaces are to the south, while the north is conducive to the activities of the watchmakers, with soft, continuous light throughout the day. Natural light was studied in close collaboration with EPFL professor Marilyne Andersen and her laboratory LIPID, as well as her consulting firm Oculight Dynamics. This collaboration has enabled us to implement the most advanced research on light performance, user well-being and psycho-physiology.

What was the greatest design challenge you faced during the project, and how did you navigate it?

In our view, the positive spatial experience of the employees must be central to the development of the architecture. What came out of the discussions with the employees was that the atmosphere, the light, the relationship to surrounding landscapes are essential. There was also a desire from the employees to find a place for exchange and co-creation where knowledge can be exchanged between colleagues.

At the interface of all the people, in the centre, is a collective space called Piazza by the users. This was a technical and atmospherical challenge! It is a huge multi-use space. It allows for meetings, exchanges, ideation and, above all, the sharing of a desire to make the brand’s most complex watch movements in this building.

How did the context of your project — environmental, social or cultural — influence your design?

During the first phases of the design development we started investigating the surrounding geographies around the plot. It is an amazing mix of pastry, forests, caves and scenic views. Soon we invited the artist Nicolas Delaroche to follow our investigations and document the local geographies. He did much more than that and took a crucial lead in picturing the lights, colors, atmosphere of the Jura. All of what had a huge influence for the project.

Geography and the landscape, as you can understand is crucial for the fabrication of our architectonic spaces. It is not just an image that we see through a window rather it is a sensation to live.

In what ways did you collaborate with others, and how did that add value to the project?

With this project we have started working in the field of architecture with Agile methods. This is a method that you may be familiar with, which comes from the world of IT. It allows a project to be developed in a way that is focused on the needs of the user and its changes, rather than in a cascade of tasks to be carried out. One of the important points of this method is to integrate from the beginning all the people who will use the building at the end. So we invited various people from AP at the design table, but also other external specialists, including all the engineers. Our role is always to be specialists in space, architecture and construction.

To our point of view this Manufacture is a great achievement of a co-design process.

How have your clients responded to the finished project?

We had very good feedback from the people working there. They appreciate the light, the Piazza and the surroundings. Every visitor entering the building is also stunned by the space and atmosphere.

It is the beginning of a long term collaboration with this brand and we look forward presenting you the projects to come

How do you believe this project represents you or your firm as a whole?

As a firm we are interested in creating amazing user experience. We work often with artists or do our own installations. This is very important as we feel that the Manufacture is a stunning art piece where every single detail has been developed with the highest sensitivity and intelligence.

We enjoy also developing architecture at any scales hand in hand with the final user. As architects, it helps us go beyond our limits and overcome our own borders and restrictions. So yes, this building represents our firm as the design process was very open and the community, the environment and the landscapes were at the core of the design process.

Team Members

Valentin Kunik (partner), Guillaume de Morsier (partner), Allegra Morpurgo (project leader)

Consultants

Construction management: Pierre Liechti architecte + Rmoved Structural engineers: GVH Saint-Blaise MEP engineers: Amstein+Walthert Fassade: BCS Building physics: Planair Daylight: Oculight Artificial light: DCube Fire security: Ignis Salutem Geotechnics: Decerenville Acoustics and soils: Prona Mobility: Citec Surveyor: MAP Workspace: Studio Banana Landscape architect: Jan Forster

Products / Materials

Daylight 🙂

For more on AUDEMARS PIGUET WATCH MANUFACTURE, please visit the in-depth project page on Architizer.

AUDEMARS PIGUET WATCH MANUFACTURE Gallery