The Project

One of the largest wooden constructions by the Japanese star architect Shigeru Ban now stands in Biel. The innovative building complex houses the headquarters of Swatch, the Omega Manufacture and the Cité du Temps with two watch museums and a conference centre.

It is not only the unusual meandering shape of the headquarters that sets new standards, but the interior too has been designed with contemporary construction in mind. Thanks to state-of-the-art technology and a great deal of know-how, the new Swatch HQ building shows that building and working can be in harmony with nature. For example, only wood from Swiss forests - a total of 1,997 cubic metres - was used for the construction. This also includes the wooden doors, which were specially designed and installed for the Swatch headquarters by Arbonia subsidiary RWD Schlatter.

Elements from Arbonia subsidiary RWD Schlatter were also used in the neighbouring construction, the Omega Manufacture. The production building was rebuilt between 2015 and 2016. For this, RWD Schlatter supplied various special doors, steel frames and wooden doors and frames. Design frames specially created for the building rounded off the range. 

To make time fly in the timelessly beautiful building, the Cité du Temps was equipped with underfloor convectors by Arbonia subsidiary Prolux Solutions. These had to be adapted exactly to the shape of the building. Thanks to the great know-how of the Arbonia Group, visitors now walk across pleasantly warm floors.

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