Founded in 1880 by Paul-Émile Carnal, Le Rosey is a private boarding school with campuses in Rolle and Gstaad, Switzerland. Centred around the medieval Rosey castle near the shore of Lake Geneva, the Rolle campus also includes several classroom and residence pavilions dating from the postwar period.



In 2010, likely inspired by the opening of SANAA’s Rolex Learning Center in nearby Lausanne, the school directors invited a short list of architecture studios to participate in a closed competition for new cultural facilities. The brief included a 900-seat concert hall, music rehearsal rooms, ateliers for painting and sculpture, as well as a library. Winning over other proposals by SANAA and Tange Associates (Kenzo Tange’s son Paul, who now runs the firm, is a Rosey alum), Bernard Tschumi’s solution was to unite all activities under a freestanding dome.





Opened in 2014, the Paul & Henri Carnal Hall resembles an UFO that landed on the Rosey’s grassy meadow. Since the building contains a concert hall and rehearsal spaces, sound insulation was an important requirement. This was achieved thanks to a double-envelope of oriented strand board (OSB) panels. Rather than hiding this utilitarian material behind a more noble surface, however, Tschumi opted to keep the engineered wood panels visible. The result combines the welcoming warm tones of the raw wood chips with a resolutely contemporary, industrial appearance that fits well with the radical shape of the building.

The images shown here date from my visit in August 2025. Merci beaucoup au Rosey pour votre accueil!