Bâtiment des Forces motrices

The Batiment des Forces Motrices sits in the middle of the Rhone in Geneva and was Europe's largest hydroelectric station when built between 1886 and 1892. City engineer Theodore Turrettini designed it after a drinking-water and energy crisis to regulate the outflow of Lake Geneva and distribute hydraulic power to workshops in the old town. The red brick facades in industrial palazzo style, the iron framework and the seventeen arched openings above the water make it a landmark of Geneva engineering. Decommissioned in 1962 and threatened with demolition, the hall reopened in 1997 after a Bernard Picenni conversion into a venue for opera and concerts. Today the Grand Theatre de Geneve often performs here while the lower turbines stand silent.