​​​ITU Headquarters Premises Architecture Competition

We are now organizing an architecture competition for the design of a new Headquarters building at its location in Geneva Switzerland.

Category Project Competition
Type International, Project, Architect, Two-Stage, Anonymous
Genre Office
Country Geneva, Switzerland
RegDeadline 5 May 2017 GoogleCal iCal
19 June 2017 (Must be Postmarked) GoogleCal
Eligibility Must hold a degree in architecture from a university or an equivalent school officially recognized by the authorities of an ITU Member State in which the entrant works, and must satisfy all legal obligations conferring entitlement, without restriction, to

Description
After 55 years at its current headquarters site in Geneva, ITU is now committed to a major building restructuring project.
In its Decision 588 of 10 June 2016, the ITU Council decided to favour scenario 2: “DUO” set out in the feasibility study of 1 February 2016 (documents can be downloaded from the competition platform).
By holding the present competition, ITU should be able in the long term to house all its staff and activities in just two buildings, under an overall plan which seeks to achieve greater architectural and urban coherence, modernization, and more efficient site management.
This restructuration process will entail, first, the demolition of the Varembé building that dates form the early 1960s and no longer meets modern building standards.
It will be replaced by the New Building, the construction of which is the object of the present competition.
On the functional level, the New Building will have to be connected to the Montbrillant building, which will be conserved.
After transferring 723 new work places and activities to the New Building, ITU will relinquish the Tower to a third party.
The strategy for the headquarters site project is in outline as follows:
• Demolition of the Varembé building
• Construction of the New Building to which the present competition relates
• Transfer of the Tower to a third party.
As well as being an important project in terms of architecture and urban planning, the New Building must also meet exemplary environmental standards.

Jury
Mr H. Radoine, architect, Director, National School of Architecture, Morocco
Mr H. Zhao, Secretary-General of ITU
Ms D. Bogdan-Martin, Chief, ITU Strategic Planning and Membership Department
Ms E. Crochat, member of the ITU Staff Council
Mr D. Plesse, member of the ITU Council for Germany
H.E. Mr V. Zellweger, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Office of the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva
Mr F. Della Casa, canton architect (DALE), Republic and Canton of Geneva
Mr G. Pricaz, Directorate of Real Estate Development, FIPOI
Mr M.J.-C. Tall, architect, PCA of the University College of Architecture in Dakar, Senegal
Mr S. Velez, architect, Colombia
Mr B. Khoury, architect, Lebanon
Ms M. Kaijima, architect, Japan
Ms S. Alam, architect, Russian Federation Mr J. Lucan, architect, France
M. L. Ortelli, architect, Switzerland, Professor at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne

Prize
Design contract

Entry Fee
CHF 500

Timetable
Notary informs candidates selected for the second stage: 3 July 2017
Submission of projects: 25 October 2017
Notification of the competition results: 13 November 2017

Organizer
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with the assistance of the Building Foundation for International Organizations (FIPOI)

Official Website