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Unity, sustainability, legacy: sports ‘super summer’ draws parallels between Olympic House and 1Roof
2,800 years ago exactly, the first recorded Olympic games were held at Olympia in Greece. As today, the games were the highlight of the sporting calendar – this year’s modern Olympics in Paris come at the culmination of a sporting ‘super summer’, hot on the heels of the French Open tennis, Wimbledon, and the European Football Championships.
The ancient and modern Olympics have much else in common. The ancient Olympics attracted many tens of thousands of spectators. To ensure their safety, the games were marked by a truce between warring states, so that athletes and spectators could travel without fear from all corners of the Greek empire. Today, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) puts the ‘Olympic Truce’ – using the games to promote peace – at the heart of its mission.
The ancient and modern Olympics are also linked by the international renown of their buildings. The main stadium at Olympia held 45,000 people – along with the original gymnasium building, it has become a major tourist draw. Today, iconic venues such as Beijing’s bird-nest stadium and Barcelona’s diving pools serve a similar purpose, attracting tourists or hosting sporting or other entertainment events long after the Olympics have left town.
Increasingly, this determination to build not only for the games but for the long-term includes a focus on building sustainably. At this year’s Paris Olympics – which promises to be the “most sustainable” games ever1 – the Olympic Village has been built using 94% recycled materials and will be powered by geothermal energy and solar power. Sustainability is now a key consideration when choosing the games’ hosts.
For the IOC, sustainability begins at home. In Lausanne, on the shores of Lake Geneva, their headquarters – Olympic House – is a physical manifestation of their commitment to sustainability, openness and unity. 60 kilometres away across the lake, Lombard Odier’s new headquarters, 1Roof, which is due to open in 2025, shares much with Olympic House and the Olympic spirit.
Aesthetic excellence
“It was the essence of the Olympic Movement and its values that served as the basis of inspiration for the design.” – Kim Herforth Nielsen, co-founder and principal of 3XN, the Danish architecture firm tasked with designing Olympic House.
© Herzog & de Meuron
In 2019, the IOC opened the doors of Olympic House for the first time. The dynamic, flowing, all-glass façade immediately caught international attention, designed to appear differently from all angles and to evoke the grace and energy of an athlete in motion. Inside, the iconic Olympic rings are echoed by the staircase that serves as the building’s monumental focal point. While outside, nestled in Louis Bourget park, careful landscaping integrates the transparent structure into the surrounding parkland.
When Lombard Odier’s 1Roof opens its doors in the town of Bellevue across Lake Geneva next year, visitors will immediately feel similarities. Designed by world-renowned Switzerland-based architects Herzog and De Meuron, who also designed Beijing’s iconic Olympic birds-nest stadium, the translucent, glass-fronted building will rise from green parkland, and will reveal its interior through shifting reflections from the waters of Lake Geneva itself.
Inside, the long, curving wall of the 700-seat auditorium that dominates the ground floor of 1Roof echoes Olympic House’s flowing exterior, evoking movement and the fluid adaptability that is the key to Lombard Odier’s strength across more than two centuries. Speaking of the building’s aesthetic, and the way form and function combine, architect Pierre de Meuron explained: “We wanted something light and in motion, a concave façade that welcomes and embraces you.”
Read also: Our sustainable headquarters - an interview with renowned architects Herzog & de Meuron
Unity and community
“All sports for all people.” – Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics.
Since its inception in 1896, the modern Olympic movement has been driven, first and foremost, by a desire to unify. Reflecting this, the Olympic House project was conceived to bring together the IOC’s 500 employees who, until then, had been spread across four different locations in Lausanne. It also aimed to further its international unifying mission, becoming a gathering place for sporting leaders and policymakers from across the world.
Six years later, 1Roof will serve a similar purpose for Lombard Odier, uniting under one roof 2,600 employees who are currently scattered across five sites in Geneva. It will also, like Olympic House, become a focal point for colleagues, clients, and leading industry voices, with a flexible space that serves simultaneously as an office, conference, meeting and social space.
For Olympic House and 1Roof this unifying purpose is a large-scale grand vision, but both projects also aim to bring lasting benefits for the local community at smaller scale. Indeed, the interests of local residents informed the projects as much as the needs of employees, resulting in buildings that are both exceptional workspaces and community assets.
In Lausanne, Olympic House ensured that the wider park benefited from the construction. The iconic marble arch that served as the entryway to the IOC’s former administrative buildings was relocated to the park, creating a new landmark for visitors to enjoy. And when the pipework for the building’s temperature control system needed to be laid through a children’s playground, the IOC even took the opportunity to expand the playground.
1Roof will serve its local neighbourhood in similar vein. Lombard Odier decided to modify the building’s initial design by adding an underground ramp to minimise the impact of site traffic and ensure the safety of pedestrians. The building will be set in a park where employees and residents alike can walk or cycle through a green space filled with plants and over one hundred trees that support local biodiversity. And a shuttle boat service and a children’s playground will further integrate the 1Roof campus into a vibrant community of new shops and residential areas.
Read also: How our future headquarters will shape the local economy
Sustainability
“With 1Roof, we are aiming for the highest standards in sustainability…Everything has been designed to promote climate resilience.” – Ebba LePage, Lombard Odier Head of Corporate Sustainability.
Perhaps the central achievement of both buildings, and their strongest link to the Olympic Charter’s commitment to sustainability as a central pillar, is their world-leading approach to building sustainably for both the construction phase and the buildings’ ongoing operations. For Olympic House, the IOC set its sights on a trio of certifications: LEED Platinum, SNBS and Minergie P. Across the lake, Lombard Odier is pursuing a similar suite of certifications for 1Roof, including SNBS, Minergie-P and BREEAM.
At Olympic House, an impressive 95% of the materials from the IOC’s former headquarters were reused or recycled in the construction of the new building. Its sinuous shape and carefully designed windows maximise natural light while minimising heat gain, reducing the need for artificial lighting and cooling. On the roof, a dove-shaped array of photovoltaic panels generates renewable electricity – the equivalent of that needed to power 60 households in Lausanne – while a state-of-the-art temperature control system harnesses the waters of nearby Lake Geneva to efficiently heat and cool the building. Thanks to these and other sustainable technologies, Olympic House uses 50% less energy and 50–75% less water than the buildings it replaced. The IOC even developed new furniture to ensure that toxic substances wouldn’t contaminate the air of its new headquarters.
Read also: Lombard Odier recertifies as B Corp™ with improved score
Like Olympic House, 1Roof will use Lake Geneva’s waters for renewable temperature control, and solar panels to generate renewable electricity. Over an area of 750 m², the air beneath 1Roof’s solar panels will be cooled by a green roof covering 80% of the building, helping the panels contribute an even greater share of the building’s supply of 100% renewable electricity, while also absorbing atmospheric pollutants.
The passive lighting and temperature regulation efficiencies created by 1Roof’s all-glass design will be augmented by advanced automation systems, helping Lombard Odier’s Geneva presence to reduce its energy consumption by an expected 20–25%. Efficient water consumption is also a priority, with water-saving features including a 200m³ tank that will capture rainwater for toilet flushing and irrigation. The project has also been designed with low-carbon mobility in mind, installing electric vehicle charging spaces, replacing potential car park area with bicycle shelters, and integrating seamlessly into local public transport.
Legacy
“Easy is not an option.” – Usain Bolt.
For both buildings, the sustainability gains came as a result of careful thought, intricate design, and much hard work. So, too, have their determination to leave a positive, lasting legacy, including the preservation of important archaeology and local biodiversity.
During the IOC’s construction project, the ancient remains of the Roman port of Lousanna were discovered on the Olympic House site. Driven by its respect for culture and heritage, the IOC took this challenge in its stride, allowing archaeologists time to excavate the area before resuming construction. Across the lake, 1Roof encountered a similar challenge, pausing construction to ensure the preservation of rare orchids, which have since been replanted in the parkland surrounding the building.
Beyond the local, tangible legacy, the projects also aim to foster positive change in their wider spheres of influence. To step into Olympic House or 1Roof is to be immersed in light, space, and functionality. Their glass façades demonstrate to the finance and sporting worlds that transparency and openness must replace the secrecy that have, at times, characterised them. The new headquarters also challenge like-minded organisations to create architecture that meets the highest standards of sustainability without compromising on aesthetics and functionality.
In the words of founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the modern Olympics are “a pilgrimage to the past and an act of faith in the future.” Just 60 kilometres apart, Olympic House and 1Roof jointly share this value, respecting their heritage and prestigious location, while building towards a brighter, more sustainable future for generations to come.
1 How Paris Olympics 2024 could be the 'greenest-ever' games | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Important information
This document is issued by Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd or an entity of the Group (hereinafter “Lombard Odier”). It is not intended for distribution, publication, or use in any jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, or use would be unlawful, nor is it aimed at any person or entity to whom it would be unlawful to address such a document. This document was not prepared by the Financial Research Department of Lombard Odier.
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