Big bang for Hassell in particle physics contest

Hassell’s London studio has won third place in an international public realm competition for the Cern particle physics research centre in Switzerland.

The winner and first runner-up were both Swiss landscape practices: Studio Bürgi, run by Paolo Bürgi, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania; and Basel-based Jacob Plannung.

Hassell was the only UK practice to be recognised with an award in the open competition, run by the Canton of Geneva.

The competition invited designs for a new public area and reception for Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, home to the Large Hadron Collider which is searching for the so-called God Particle.

It was split into two categories: an ideas competition for the Route de Meyrin beside to the Cern campus; and a public realm design competition for the public face of the campus.

Hassell’s entry explored the relationship between the campus’s imposing natural setting and its headline-grabbing scientific discoveries.

Tony Grist, Hassell’s London-based international head of architecture, said: “The result is a recognition of the commitment Hassell places on the design of the public realm, and the culture of collaboration between architect and landscape architect within our practice.”