Design Story: Beau Soleil

Project: Beau Soleil  

Location: Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland 

Completion Date: 2024  

Scale: 1000, sq.m 

Services: Architecture, space planning, interior design, and compliance with local building regulations 

Summary: 

Beau Soleil is one of the world’s most prestigious international boarding schools, located in the scenic Swiss Alps in the village of Villars-sur-Ollon. With a global reputation for excellence, the school boasts cutting-edge facilities, breathtaking surroundings, and exceptional opportunities. 

MSA Architects was entrusted with designing The Hub at Beau Soleil, transforming a former brutalist retail space into a flagship, state-of-the-art IT department. 

Design Details 

Guided by the brief to create an inspiring IT hub that reflects the school’s ambition to remain at the forefront of global education, MSA set out to build an innovative workspace that transcended the design of a traditional classroom.  

The vision was to create an inspiring, interactive environment that facilitated collaboration and creativity.  

With fixed internal walls and windows proving to be a challenge, MSA Architects designed bespoke, adaptable furniture and mountable partitions to accommodate various teaching styles and create dynamic, flexible spaces. With access to collaborative zones and display units, the final design was futuristic yet practical, inviting the bright young minds of today to gravitate to exchange ideas.  

The final result is a visually stunning, functional space that surprises and delights, blending the industrial past with an inspiring future. 

Eric Strickland, MSA Lead architect on the Beau Soleil project, commented:  

“The Hub at Beau Soleil was an ambitious design proposal and one that was incredibly rewarding to realise.  

“Transforming the former supermarket into a contemporary IT Hub was not without its challenges, but we were able to adapt and make the most of the tools at our disposal to produce a final design that surpassed the client’s expectations.”