ESPACE AUGUSTE PICCARD

ESPACE AUGUSTE PICCARD

Sierre Geronde, Switzerland

“A symbol of a thought, an imaginary voyage”

The crossing of a new motorway in this landscape offers the chance to redesign a place, to rediscover it with the language of the essential.
The two enclosed tunnels “reappear” in a sculptural space, a place for meeting and confrontation with out time, recreation, exhibitions, festivals or just a place to reflect, or for a moment of desired solitude.

64 Italian poplars in eight groups are oriented like the quadrant of a compass, where apertures and stairs permit one’s orientation, situating oneself in relation to the international highway which connects cities and metropolis.
The central area is depressed relative to the plain, cut by the two concrete structures:
a revealed sculpture waiting to be discovered.
Thin stripes of natural stone, coming from Italy and from France, shall be placed at the sides of the tunnels to strengthen the idea of distance and communication. The outer circle measures 99 meters.