Paolo L. Bürgi. CERN, Esplanade des Particules

The emblematic plaza at the entrance of CERN in Geneva is a project which was carried out following an international competition won in 2011 by Studio Bürgi. 100m underground is the LHC, the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator, the largest and most powerful built in the world to date. On rare occasions you can access its sophisticated detectors from four different stations. What is possible to discovered, after crossing various checkpoints and taking the elevators that descend deep into the earth, are enormous machines that bring together millimetre precision in construction and the astonishing size of the whole installation, which is particularly evident when seen in relation to the human scale of the people working there. Approximately 120,000 people visit CERN every year ...How do you convey to those crossing this new emblematic square that, underground, something exceptional is happening?