Switzerland Innovation Park: architectural competition decided
The result of the architectural competition for the new building of the Switzerland Innvoation Park is available: The winner is the architectural team Waldrap from Zurich with the project "Flow".
The Switzerland Innovation Park Biel/Bienne is taking shape. The architectural competition for the new building has been completed. A total of 46 projects were submitted; the winner was the Waldrap architectural team from Zurich.
Their project "Flow" fulfills the requirements of openness, flexibility and economic efficiency on the one hand, and on the other hand creates a "distinctive, unmistakable face and high quality of experience," according to a statement by the jury.
The "Flow" project is designed as a three-bay skeleton building with a gross floor area of around 15,000 square meters. The spatial center of the facility is formed by the two-story factory hall, which can be seen from all sides and forms the focal point of the building. Production rooms and workshops will be located on the first floor. The building is being constructed in a prime location in Biel/Bienne, a few minutes' walk from the railroad station. It is scheduled to be ready for occupancy in 2019.
Mix of startups and established companies
According to Innocampus AG, it is already in contact with interested parties for parts of the 10,000 sqm rental space. The goal is a tenant mix of established companies and startups, says Felix Kunz, CEO of Innocampus AG, which operates the Switzerland Innovation Park Biel/Bienne.
Since 2014, a pilot operation of the Biel/Bienne Innovation Park has existed in temporary premises on Aarbergstrasse, where around 100 people now work. In June 2015, the Federal Council decided that Biel/Bienne is a network location of the national generation project "Switzerland Innovation". The new Innovation Park building is intended to provide infrastructure to enable new technologies and products to be developed in collaboration between private companies and research centers, thereby attracting value creation and jobs.
