About

The City of Geneva launched a competition for ideas regarding the redevelopment of La Rade, Geneva City waterfront.

photo

Participation in the competition was open to Swiss and international architects, as well as students in their final year of a Master’s Degree from the Swiss architecture institutes. All collaborations from other agents were welcomed: artists, sociologists, restaurateurs, events specialists, etc.

This competition aims to create a new vision for La Rade and its quays, spark a new public debate and help the City of Geneva to develop a master plan to enhance this emblematic site and improve the experience of its users.

In a second phase, the Executive Board will be able to study one or more prize-winning ideas from this competition and organise one or more project competitions to carry out the developments.

The winning projects will be presented to the public from May 9th, through several exhibitions in Geneva (Forum Faubourg and on the harbour of Geneva) allowing residents to judge, debate and, ultimately, take ownership of them. A 360° mobile app will also be available from May 9th to discover the winning projects.

The scope of the competition covers the quays and promenades of La Rade from the Mont Blanc bridge to the boundary of the future Eaux-Vives public beach on the left bank, and to the Perle du Lac park on the right bank. In their reflection, candidates must take into account completed projects like the new jetty to access the Jet d’Eau or projects under development like the Eaux-Vives beach and new public port and the pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Mont Blanc bridge.

Participants’ proposals will be judged according to the following criteria:

  • Urban planning, architectural and landscaping (vegetation) quality of the visual master plan concept
  • Coherence of the visual master plan concept
  • Innovative character of the ideas and proposals to bring the site to life
  • Potential to promote water access and swimming
  • Potential to promote social practices and conviviality
  • Relevance and technical feasibility of the proposed public space project
  • Comprehension of the location, its history and relationship to the existing urban fabric
  • Consideration of recent or future developments (the pontoon running along the Jet d’Eau jetty, the pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Mont-Blanc bridge, as well as the Eaux-Vive public beach and the new Eaux -Vives public port) within or in closer proximity to the boundary of the competition
  • Integration of the needs of users, services and public equipment

The Jury had an overall sum of CHF 250,000.- to award approximately 5 prizes, or eventual distinctions (within the limits set by Article 17.3 of the SIA Standard 142 of 2009). This total amount was calculated according to the June 2010 SIA guideline on determining the overall sum of prizes, published by the SIA commission for architecture and engineering competitions.