Façade for Switzerland’s largest new university building

South-west of Biel/Bienne railway station, on the former Feldschlössli site, the new Biel/Bienne Campus for Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) has been built. The project was based on the competition-winning design “Trèfle” (cloverleaf) by the Zurich office pool Architekten: a five-storey, cloverleaf-shaped perimeter building made up of three interconnected, horseshoe-shaped structures, with three cubic central buildings placed in the inner courtyard.

Above ground, the campus is conceived as a timber structure, while the façade deliberately draws on commercial and industrial buildings, thereby underlining the character of the complex as a place of research and education. It accommodates the departments of “Engineering and Computer Science” and “Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering”.

On behalf of ARGE Campus Biel/Bienne, PICHLER projects was responsible for the mullion-and-transom façade in the inner courtyard and at the plinth levels. In total, 7,500 m² of façade area were installed, comprising 6,000 m² of unitised façade and 1,500 m² of mullion-and-transom façade.

In addition to teaching, laboratory and office areas, the ground floor of the campus includes an open atrium, a Campus Hall with 500 seats or space for 1,500 standing guests, a library, cafeteria, workshops and engine test stands. The building was constructed to the Minergie-P standard and planned in accordance with the SNBS standard for buildings. Its energy supply is provided largely by district heating and district cooling using lake water, supplemented by a photovoltaic system.