Today there is a conflict between the heritage and tourist value of an architecture, and its ecological and climatic value. Indeed, the end of the 20th century in Europe had valorized the visual, cultural, aesthetic aspect of the buildings, within the framework of a post-industrial economic development linked mainly to tourism. But when in the 21st century the imperatives of thermal insulation arrived, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a conflict arose between the historical image that the facade had to give in the public domain, and the need to cover it from the outside with a wool as thermal insulation.
It is here that interior decoration takes on its full meaning, that of the carpets and tapestries of yesteryear, of chandeliers and mirrors, of gilding and curtains, as ancient strategies for improving the thermal conditions of pre-modern interiors, and whose ambition we must revalorize and renew the means in the age of global warming.
Thus, by working on real climatic phenomena, the interior architecture students of the HEAD in Geneva, under the direction of Philippe Rahm and Phi Nguyen, sought to respond to today's ecological imperatives, to bring the former tower of the Swiss Institute of Rome up to energy standards, by inventing the decorative style characteristic of the 21st century.