Residential building with the parish common room

Avenue Dumas 2

Next to the Temple de Champel stands a residential building constructed in 1950 by Georges Addor. It is, in a way, a symbolic construction which combines the two faces of Champel: the upper part of the block is neat, yet quite conservative, while its lower section is uncompromisingly modernist.

The building's first floor is entirely occupied by the parish common room and used by the adjacent Temple. As it is moved forward in relation to the rest of the building, its frontal part is supported by concrete pillars, which create a slight resemblance with El Lissitzky's Horizontal Skyscrapers (albeit this one carries a building on its top). The modernist part of the building has some interesting details: its wall facing plateau de Champel is furnished with a long strip of windows while its south-west side is decorated with a bronze sculpture created by Paul Bianchi.

The upper part of the construction is entirely different. Gone are the glass walls and pillars, as they make way for rectangular windows, nicely put into three-dimensional 'frames'. The transition is eased only by the sills outwardly projected from underneath the loggias that remind the viewer about the forwarded first floor.

The reason why this block of flats is composed of two totally different parts is clear when one looks at its surroundings: on one hand there is the low, modernist Temple and on the other, there are the tall, traditional residential buildings. The lower part of our house nicely reflects its liturgical neighbour, whereas the upper part is in line with the general style of the adjacent properties. In this way Avenue Dumas 2 does not break the coherence of the area and at the same time manages to retain an original, modern character.

Temple de Champel

10 Avenue Alfred-Bertrand

Plateau de Champel is one of the most pleasant parts of the district; it is also home to a few impressive modernist buildings, such as the protestant church "Temple de Champel". Originally constructed by the architects Antoine Leclerc, Auguste Bordier, Adrien Haas and Emile-Albert Favre in 1933, it was slightly transformed in 1969 by Rene Koechlin and Marc Mozer.

The building, carved out of a homogeneous concrete block, is built around an atrium opening towards Avenue Bertrand and plateau de Champel. Thanks to the large, open space in the middle and a long glass "wall" facing it, Temple de Champel seems surprisingly light and spacious. Koechlin and Mozer covered certain surfaces with bright wood, which nicely contrasts with the dominant white areas and makes the building feel more natural. The interior of the church is constructed in a similar manner to the outside: the main corridor runs alongside the glass wall facing the atrium and the rooms are located adjacent to it. They are separated by yet another glass divider, which can be removed to create a larger open space.

The exquisite shape of the protestant church is not its only asset: equally captivating are the numerous architectural details incorporated within its structure. The most visible one is surely the belfry, made out of two curved, concrete blades with a large bell in the middle of them. The outdoors communion table is perhaps slightly less noticeable, yet not less interesting: composed of a concrete surface and two water basins, it even boasts a hidden, abstract stained glass.

Temple de Champel is a fascinating building; a true architectural gem of Champel, and indeed the whole of Geneva.

I would like to thank Mr Eric May, the president of the Champel-Malagnou parish, for kindly taking his time and effort to provide me with a lot of valuable information on the subject of Temple de Champel. I also would like to thank a lady that I encountered while photographing the building who shared with me a lot of interesting and insightful thoughts on its history and architecture.

Miremont-le-Crêt

8 Avenue de Miremont

Miremont-le-Crêt is a residential building designed by Marc-Joseph Saugey, a notable Geneva architect. It was constructed in the years 1953-1957 and quickly became one of the symbols of the modernist architecture in the city.

Miremont-le-Crêt is an extraordinary building: large and open, yet light and discreet. One looking from the Avenue de Miremont will see its concrete, monochromatic walls, decorated only with cool, vertical aluminium blinds. But the view from the small Avenue de Calas is totally different: the pale grey concrete is broken down by huge, bright yellow marquises that lazily hang above the shady balconies.

Mr Saugey's work is clearly inspired by that of his compatriot, Le Corbusier, but it's by no means a copy. The pilotis principle is merely hinted - stilts are reduced to something nearly purely decorative, while one's attention is instantly drawn to Mondrianesque pictures painted on a wall opposite. They look particularly beautiful around midday, when the light reflects them on the row of large windows behind the stilts.