CommunicationPublished on 18 July 2024

Creative impulses for the continued development of the SFISM

A wide range of illustrations now adorn the walls and ceilings of the new building at Lärchenplatz. They were designed and applied by thirteen students from Bern Academy of the Arts (HKB). They remind staff, clients, athletes and guests of the successful accreditation of the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen (SFISM) and of the need to work together for its continued development.

At the end of 2022, the Swiss Accreditation Council granted SFISM accreditation as a university of applied sciences. This certifies that SFISM meets national and international quality requirements for teaching, research and services at a higher education institution. FOSPO celebrated this positive decision and the completion of the multi-stage, cross-disciplinary accreditation process with an internal celebration in collaboration with Bern Academy of the Arts (HKB).

Inspired by the festivities, Magglingen, the SFISM and the accreditation, students at the HKB have created a wide range of illustrations. These not only reflect the diversity and commitment of the SFISM as a university of applied sciences in Magglingen, but also emphasise the importance of diversity, sustainable development and taking different perspectives. The collaboration shows how artistic and academic synergies can open up new horizons and shared values can be lived out.

In the basement, barely visible on the pane of glass is a rolled up ball of moss.
Steel supports run through the floors. Some have been turned fragmentarily into larch trunks.
The profile of the Alpine panorama stretches along the wall of the ground floor corridor. Belinda Jasmin Bernet brings nature back into the man-made environment.
Colourful geometric shapes add touches of interior design in a corridor used by staff heading to the changing rooms before and after their exercise, thereby transforming a space that once had the charm of a civil defence bunker.
A skier performs a daring trick, sliding along the banister towards the sprint tunnel. What seems to have come straight out of a cartoon has been turned into a larger-than-life sticker.
All floors have a floor plan in the form of illustrative images in the access areas. Morgane Eigeldinger succeeds in using technical plans to add elements of colour.
On the top floor of the numbered stairs in both stairwells, Dylan Kühni confronts people with the question ‹Which stairs are you climbing?›, so grabbing their attention where they would otherwise just pass by.
In another work by Dylan Kühni, small drawings illustrate stories from everyday life.
Fabia Kunz enriches a functional, purely pragmatic space. Amidst the grey concrete is a green oasis: a single toilet cubicle transforms the sterile environment into a lush natural space.
Where are the 50 favourite songs from the accreditation event hidden? Philippe Leu has found spaces for them in functional settings that discreetly blend into the architecture.
It’s only possible to get a clear view into the stairwell by looking through a curvy, meandering drawing. On the opaque surface, the drawing appears like a mole tunnel.
The ceiling construction, which extends through all floors of the building, is illuminated by fluorescent colour at a central passageway. The longitudinal coloured stripes on the ceiling give the passageway a dynamic feel.
Giulia Schlüchter has distributed 30 digitally created drawings around the glass-walled courtyard, inspired by a selection of the FOSPO staff’s favourite songs. The upbeat drawings spread good vibes. A QR code in the bottom right-hand corner of each drawing links to the illustrated song.
Using a Google Earth image of Lärchenplatz and its trees, Marc-Antoine Vouillamoz has created a large-scale mural for the warm-up room, depicting the building's surroundings as an abstract structure.
The sprint tunnel is being invaded by snails. The creatures can be found in unexpected places, and their goings-on show in an entertaining way what we can discover if we move at a slower pace.
In the entrance hall, the larch branch has a special place, bringing an important natural motif from the outside into the interior.
Maja Walter has covered a selection of markings from the building phase with a protective film to draw attention to the many technical drawings needed in the construction process.

Further information

Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen SFISM

Rectorate office
Hauptstrasse 247
2532 Magglingen