RDR Architects' Halle 2 Safety Brings Swiss Modernism to Payerne Air Base

RDR architects have completed Halle 2 Safety, a 4,000 m² structure at Payerne Air Base in Switzerland, housing emergency services and living quarters for 100 personnel. The firm, founded in 1993 by Jacques Richter and Ignacio Dahl Rocha, has offices in Buenos Aires, Madrid, and Lausanne, with the Lausanne team led by Kenneth Ross, Antoine Barc, and Frédéric Comby overseeing delivery. The building uses glue-laminated timber beams, steel trusses, rammed earth walls, and a ventilated perforated aluminium envelope, with 1,600 m² of photovoltaic panels on the roof. It consolidates functions from obsolete buildings and follows a new Halle 3 for aircraft maintenance. The design prioritizes emergency vehicle access with wide corridors and pole access, while large spans and supergraphic signage reflect the 'form follows function' maxim. The project was covered by Wallpaper* magazine's Transport and Technology Editor Jonathan Bell.