Le Locle, Switzerland
Led by Valentin Kunik and Guillaume de Morsier and the design team at Kuník de Morsier architects along with landscape architect Jan Forster, the design for the new Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Audemars Piguet in Les Saignoles was developed for the watchmaker’s needs and a new kind of building.
Built horizontally on the hill, the Manufacture fits discreetly into this landscape resulting from the folds of the Jura.
Its surroundings create a succession of biotopes characteristic of the region.
The whole blends into the geography of the Jura and the astral time.
The contours and materials were chosen to intensify the user’s or visitor’s experience of the environment, natural light, and the movement of the sun.
The Manufacture has an industrial vocation and brings together on one and the same level all the manufacturing and assembly stations for the precious movements.
In a centripetal manner, the necessary programmes find their place according to their orientation and the light they capture.
The workshops are in the calm northern light and the administration in the dynamic southern light.
In the center there is a large meeting space that has been named “Piazza” by the users.
It is a place for informal exchanges, workshops, co-creation, and the multiplicity of knowledge that encourages interaction between people, networking of skills, and the creation of a strong identity for the watchmakers on the site.
The architecture of the Manufacture has been developed around the comfort and well-being of the craftsmen and the experience of users during their visit while anticipating the future challenges of the industry and work habits.
In this way, the Manufacture combines the needs of the most advanced industry with the desire for creativity and social emulation of a company resolutely turned towards the future.
The Manufacture was designed to offer optimized spaces for the design and production of watches, but also to provide employees with spaces for exchange, meeting, and socializing.
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 enabled the architects to implement the most advanced research on light performance, user well-being, and psycho-physiology.
The different spaces benefit from natural light, which creates a rich and dynamic interior landscape.
Artificial lighting has been designed with the same attention to detail, in order to provide the workshops with optimal light for the work of the watchmakers.
To achieve this, the architects collaborated with Davide Opizzi, director of DCube, and the lighting manufacturer Artemide, in order to develop tailor-made luminaires perfectly adapted to the needs of the various trades.
The Manufacture is designed as a tool perfectly adapted to the contemporary needs of Fine Watchmaking, and flexible enough to adapt to future industrial changes.
The knowledge silos are open to allow co-creation.
The industrial platforms are each oriented according to their own needs in terms of natural light, and are all on the same large, continuous level, allowing for easy exchange of parts and movements between the different workshops.
In parallel with its industrial activity, the Manufacture was designed to receive customers and partners.
Its visitor flow has been organized and optimized to offer customers a unique experience in which they are successively immersed in the geography of the region, in the brand’s codes, but also in the heart of the workshops.
The architecture thus allows them to discover the work of the watchmakers in an immersive way and to discover a world that is often kept secret.
Project: Audemars Piguet Manufacture Les Saignoles
Architects: Kuník de Morsier architectes Sàrl SIA
Design Team: Allegra Morpurgo, Lucie Morand, Clémence Beghini, Pascal Ryser, Gaspard Garcier, Nicolas Baechtiger, Lital Balbi, Julie Basso, Kimberley Berney, Nicolas Bessson, Farah Fervel, Gabriela Jeanrenaud, Angélique Kuenzle, Marie Menninger, Alicia Musial, Yamina Sam, Diego Sologuren, and Wendy Tokuoka
Landscape Architects: Forster-Paysage sàrl.
Lighting Designers: DCube
Construction Management: Pierre Liechti architecte, Rmoved
Client: Audemars Piguet Holding S.A.
Photographers: Nicolas Delaroche and Iwan Baan
