Fondation Martin Bodmer
Library and Museum in Cologny, Geneva
1998-2003

Project 
1998

Realisation
2000-2003

Location
19-21, Route du Guignard, Cologny

CLIENT
Bibliotheca Bodmeriana
Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cologny

Site supervision
Archilab Arch. Gabriele-M. Rossi, Pully

Civil/Geotechnical Engineers
Amsler&Bombeli SA Chêne-Bougeries

Engineers
Louis Gay, Cointrin
Perrin Spaeth & Associés, Geneva
AAB-J. Stryjenski & H. Monti SA, Geneva

Net floor area
1'280 m², exhibition area 750 m²

Volume
9'000 m³


The collection of written documents kept at the Martin Bodmer Foundation, some of which are unique, constitute a cultural heritage remarkable for its quality and rarity. The library takes up two classical-looking, although rather composite villas on land in the large estate acquired by its founder in Cologny, near to Geneva . The extension plan for the premises called for the building a new serviced exhibition space to display the valuable documents to an even larger public. The new extension consists of a two-storey underground construction between the two villas and their links. Entry to this new area is from the garden, crossing a courtyard which is sunken on the lake side and which adjoins the wall that cuts it off from the road leading to the village. The exceptional nature of the documents preserved here suggested the idea of a buried presentation case with nothing emerging from the ground except five parallelepipedic volumes in glass on square bases, rising to about three-and-a-half meters and aligned with the entrance like a set of perspective screens, which draw the visitor’s eye to the lake. These glassed-in shapes rising from the ground act as skylights, letting natural light into the underground exhibition area. Their transparency and their highly geometrical shape combine to change the perception of outside space at the entrance, unexpectedly creating an atmosphere that prompts a different view of the landscape. At the same time they discreetly reveal the presence of the underground exhibition space. Because of their value, the documents on show demand particular attention. The showcases are made in cast iron with armoured glass. The resulting impression is strength and simplicity, like the presentation case of a beautiful jewel. The raw metal of compartments and jointed supports contrasts with the light delicacy of the paper in the book on display. Container and contents thus show one another off to their mutual gain.