The last two photos in my recent Blue Balls festival were taken from underneath the Lucerne Culture and Convention Centre’s overhanging roof.  The pictures in this post show how the building appears against its backdrop of mountains.  You can read about the building and the archect in a previous post of mine.

The promotional brochure knows how to tempt a girl

Experience Lucerne bay aboard our new panoramic motor yacht.  During the hour-long trip, settle down in th spacious seating areas and savour the glorious views of the lake, the town and the mountains.  The vessel sports an amazing sliding roof that, just like a convertible car, can be opened and closed according to the weather.  As for the main deck, it features a unique lake-level water terrace.  The yacht also has a bar – perfect for that refreshing drink.  What a great way to relax:  close to nature, to the sun, the wind and the rain, it’s an experience for all the senses.  Welcome aboard.

The Kultur-und Kongresszentrum or Culture and Convention Centre when translated into English is more commonly known as the KKL Centre.

The KKL Centre was a project of French architect Jean Nouvel and built between the years 1995 to 2000.

The Culture and Convention Center in Lucerne is composed of three parts: a concert hall, conference rooms with an auditorium and a museum of contemporary art.

The idea was to play with a horizontal plane as canopy linking the different spaces that are lined up below. This form on the elevation level of the lake covered a large urban area with a water element. The metaphor refers to three ships docked in the lake under the huge deck.

The construction was a major challenge because of the overhang that reaches 45 meters on the diagonal, with a height of 21 meters. This represents the most architecturally unique building, which ‘float’ light and elegant between land and sky, and gives the area a peaceful atmosphere.

The roof was designed to harmonize with a horizontal center of the lake, inviting visitors to spend some time abroad.

Faced with the impossibility of building the center on water, Nouvel decided to enter the lake in the building, creating two channels of low depth that operate within the complex. The water was channeled into the three parts of the building at the same level as the Plaza Europa.

The tech behind the structure:

In choosing the form of the large roof overhang and structural economic influence. A web of steel plate girders were included to strengthen the high slope in the northeast corner. With a maximum height of 3.7 meters beam, falling almost to zero at the edge of the roof, it was possible to achieve a cantilever beam of 45 meters.

A major challenge was how to ensure continuity at the intersection of three beams of 2.5 meters. The engineers used an innovative concept for linking the main diagonal beams to allow a continuous distribution of bending throughout the structure, uninterrupted by the joints. Diagonal beams were organized to achieve large holes in the main beams. Linkages were established with neck bolts using HSFG soldier.

As the wind is the most important cargo solicitation on the roof, their behavior was studied in a wind tunnel using a 1:200 scale model. Different parts of the structure were tested in a laboratory compared to storms, earthquakes, fires, depletion and degradation. The long-term performance of the roof is guaranteed by an extensive program of inspection and maintenance. To access the interior of the roof is designed especially removable plates.

Lao-Tzu

I woke refreshed after a good nights sleep. The breakfast choice was good and there were different seating areas to choose from including the balcony option.

After breakfast we took a leisurely walk along the lake past the Hofkirche, taking in the views of Pilatus on our way towards the Lion Monument.  We stopped for a refreshing drink along the way and after taking pictures of the poignant monument we explored the nearby Glacier Garden.  This natural phenomenon was on my hit list of things to see, but I didn’t realise that the attraction also housed a museum and a mirror maze that was based on Alhambra.  The mirrors had been kept so clean that the we heard many clunks along the way as people crashed into the mirrors.

After the Glacier Garden experience it was time for lunch where I experienced a rather refreshing mineral water drink that was topped up with summer berries.

After lunch the next port of call was the Bourbaki Panorama which depicted the internment of 87,000 French soldiers as they crossed the border into Switzerland in 1871.   On both an artistic and informative level, this was the best panorama that I have seen.

We walked back to the Hofkirche and went inside.  It had lovely calm and relaxing atmosphere. We then investigated the cloisters before sitting down for another cooling drink on our way back to the hotel, where we freshened up before our evening meal.

We were bored to death by two business men who were dining at the table next to us and talking LOUDLY about their work.  One of them was quite rude and ignorant and I had to think ‘calm’ because so many words were on the tip of my tongue

We then took a leisurely stroll through the ‘New Town’ arriving at the bar next door to our hotel for a night cap before we retired for a good night’s sleep.