Headquarters of the ITU

The project simultaneously responds to the different functional conditions of its spaces: large public halls and administrative and office spaces and its enormous and complex programme, as well as certain urban considerations. The building has a hybrid typology, halfway between a tablet and a tower, between an equine body and a human body. It is a wise centaur – Chiron – that shelters under its legs enough space for Achilles – ITU – to develop and evolve steadily. The new ITU headquarters is vertical, but it is not a tower; it is horizontal, but it is not a tablet; it has large legs, but it is not a horse; it is intelligent, but it is not human. It is a hybrid architecture that adapts to horizontal public spaces at street level and also accommodates small-scale workspaces close to the sky. Between these spaces is a large structure that is both a roof and a base and which, on a single level, resolves the technical issues of the horizontal body below and the vertical body above. It is an urban object that finds its form and position in relation to its neighbours, the Place des Nations and Rue Varembé, and the CICG, the WIPO tower, the old ITU tower and the Montbrilliant building.