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Open doors at the City Hall, which has just been refurbished, attracted a large audience on Saturday. The curious were even able to participate in a fictitious meeting of the Grand Council.
The dome above the hemicycle is made up of thousands of wooden slats and LED lights.
leo/20 min
The clock mechanism required thousands of hours of work.
leo/ 20 min
The Republic of Geneva called to become an empire. This is the result of a fictitious session of the Grand Council, with humorous accents, in which more than a hundred people participated, deputies for a day, on Saturday. Under the leadership of the President of Parliament, Diego Esteban, the motion for a resolution “Democracy is good, but the monarchy is better!”, amended during a short debate in which the question arose as to whether he needed a prince, a princess, a royalty, or “less modest” an empire, was accepted by a narrow majority, under the laughter of the public. It was the high point of an open day at the Hôtel de Ville, which has just had a facelift following more than three years of work.
For more serene debates
In addition to this session, which made it possible to slip into the shoes of a deputy, and thus to understand the parliamentary mechanisms, guided tours were organized to present the major novelties of the renovation of the building dating back five centuries, which cost 19, 5 million francs. One of the aims of the work was to have access for people with reduced mobility, explained to the curious Philippe Bonhôte, from the Bonhôte / Zapata architects’ office, who designed and carried out the refurbishment of the premises. An elevator was therefore installed. It was also necessary to change the atmosphere of the Grand Council room, continued the architect, and to find a form of hemicycle which would make it possible to organize more serene debates, without face to face as before.
Trompe l’oeil dome
Now without stained glass, the places allow you to have a view of the city and to be visible from the street. An impressive dome, made up of thousands of oak slats with LED lights behind, now overlooks the room. A complex work that required 3D modeling and was carried out by craftsmen “piece by piece”. The result, in trompe-l’oeil, gives the impression that the ceiling is higher than it is, Philippe Bonhôte reported once more. The chairs were specially designed in the 1940s for the UN in New York. The links of the American city with Geneva, as hosts of international organizations, made it possible to obtain this model, which was never marketed. The clock, which dates from the middle of the 19th century, has been completely renovated. Its mechanism contains some 500 parts that required more than 5,000 hours of work, produced by the watchmaking school. Finally, an important aspect of the project was to work on the flows that cross the different rooms of the Town Hall. “All the continuity of the floors and the geometry of the walls have been designed to make travel more pleasant”, indicated the architect.
“The chair, I would like the same!”
The public, which brought together all generations, seemed seduced, like Michaël, who came with his companion. “I find the Grand Council room bright and more modern than the previous one,” he said. I adhere to this space in length, rather than in U. The idea of the dome is rather good. The only downside according to him: the windows installed in the space reserved for the public above the hemicycle and which gives “the impression that we are a little distant.” Sitting in the spans, a Genevan, keen on heritage, applauds the “extraordinary” work carried out: “It is very sober and classy, she judges. When you arrive, the elements are very striking. And the chair, I would like the same at home, it is wide and comfortable, just one would be enough for me!” Near the Salle des Pas Perdus, two Genevan architects are enthusiastic: “We can see that there is a quality in the materials and that this has been carefully thought out,” explains one of them, who salutes the link with the outside. I find that the architectural side allows social connection.”
In short, a full box for these visits, which brought together more than a thousand people, as estimated by an employee in charge of reception: “We have never had so many people for an event like this.”
