Piguet Galland's Arbre à Vent® takes its first tentative steps
Banque Piguet Galland is today inaugurating the very first Arbre à Vent, which it acquired in 2013, in front of its premises on Avenue Louis-Aubert in Geneva. Created by the start-up, the Arbre à Vent is a biomimetic urban wind turbine designed by Claudio Colucci. The tree's foliage captures the wind's energy to produce electricity. The 63 leaves that adorn this 10-metre-high plant totem are mini wind turbines that come to life with the slightest breath.
With this Arbre à Vent, Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, Chairman and CEO of New Wind, wanted above all to propose and promote new ideas so that, one day soon, cities can meet their energy needs in a way that is both autonomous and responsible. In its own way, the Arbre à Vent prefigures a new urban landscape, one that is more sensitive, more harmonious, more inspired, in a "Smart City" spirit, and ultimately restores its humanity. To reconcile efficiency and emotion, performance and aesthetics, the Arbre's design was entrusted to Geneva-based designer Claudio Colucci, who succeeded in giving it an endearing, organic silhouette, all softness and curves.
We are delighted and proud to be among the first to erect this splendid Arbre à Vent, which is as much a work of art as it is an innovation in sustainable development," says Olivier Calloud, Chief Executive Officer of Banque Piguet Galland. We were particularly impressed by Jérôme Michaud-Larivière's environmental approach and Claudio Colucci's creativity. What's more, the hundred-year-old oak tree and the Arbre à Vent that now frame our Pléiades building in Geneva are two powerful symbols for the Bank.
They say a lot about the spirit that drives the company, its desire to take a long-term view of its activities, and at the same time its desire to look to the future and constantly renew itself to keep up with the times. Now we're hoping that our initiative will be followed by many others, and that behind this first wind tree lies a whole forest!
"The hundred-year-old oak tree and the Arbre à Vent that frame our Bank speak volumes about the spirit that drives it, its desire to operate for the long term, and its desire to project itself into the future," emphasises Olivier Calloud, Chief Executive Officer of Banque Piguet Galland.
