area 115 | concrete

architect: Valerio Olgiati

location: Chur

year: 2010

The design of the new entrance gives to the Parliament of Grisons and its building an appropriate identity and a splendid refined character. The idea is to allow all visitors with or without disabilities to walk the same way naturally and comfortably. The stony part of the new building is made of white, monolithic in situ concrete, while the railing is made of massive bronze. The white concrete is composed of white cement, white sand and gray gravel from the area. The walking surfaces are polished and roughen. From the square on the south side, a ramp leads to the existing entrance door. The proportion of the basis and the room height is classic monumental, it gives to the entrance a public and festive character. The roof covers the ramp with a width of 18 m, an area of 70 m2 and a weight of 90 tons. This heavy element is only supported by a thin pillar and by a “hanging column”. The expression of heaviness provides the space under the roof a character of inside and protection. The simultaneity of showing and hiding forces generates something unreal. The “hanging column” stands next to the entrance door and leads the visitor inside the building. It barely touches the ramp and seems to hang from the roof. Slightly rotated out of the surrounding geometry, it stands on the highest point of the basis and it seems to keep on rotating. It playfully balances the apparently weightless roof like gravity would not exist.