Customer application

Cutting-Edge Technology Makes Ceilings Sparkle

WIPO’s new building houses one of the largest conference rooms in Geneva. The permanently mounted false ceiling, from which around 1200 spotlights gleam, resembles the starry sky. Which raises the question: How can these lights be connected conveniently and maintained easily? This is the technical challenge WAGO Contact SA took on. All the goals – ease of use, time savings and cost effectiveness – were met by using the WINSTA^® Pluggable Connection System.

The brand-new conference hall of the World Intellectual Property Organization, which opened in September 2014, entrances visitors with its unique architecture. The building, designed by Behnisch, an architecture firm based in Stuttgart, consists of four distinct yet interconnected polygons. With a floor space of 1600 m², the building offers terraced seating for around 900 guests. The shape and materials give the building a highly distinguished appearance. The architects envisioned a kind of floating sculpture. The largest of the four nested elements, which give the building a spectacular geometry, actually appears to hover above the ground due to a massive wooden cantilever that extends for 35 meters.

As an innovative and groundbreaking structure, WIPO’s new conference hall mostly meets all of the demands that were placed on it regarding sustainability and user friendliness. In order to accommodate building sustainability demands, the architects relied on local wood, natural light, a hybrid ventilation system (both natural and mechanical) and a cooling system that uses water from Lake Geneva in its operation.