The new museum by BIG for Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet is set to open to the public next May. As featured in WSJ. Magazine, the project was designed as an extension to their headquarters in Le Brassus, near Le Chenit. Conceived as a spiraling glass pavilion in the landscape, the design will take visitors on a narrative journey through the company's 139-year history.
Bjarke Ingels Group’s design for Audemars Piguet aims to channel the Swiss watch brand’s legacy of craftsmanship. The project includes gallery spaces for a museum, work spaces and a guest house. The new Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet has two sloping spirals that coil around themselves like a watch spring. As Bjarke Ingels said, “When I first visited, I saw a watch they call a montre mystérieuse, where you couldn’t understand what was holding the minute dial in place." For the museum, the team created an experience that, "feels like a great brass spring is hovering over your head. It’s what’s missing that makes it.” The spiraling form responds to the program requirements, and the shape creates the narrative path through the building that explores adjacency.
Read the full feature on WSJ. Magazine
