Portail des Nations

Designed and produced by the Portail des Nations Foundation, for and in close consultation with UN Geneva, the Portail des Nations, the future Visitor Center of UN Geneva, is the result of a strong ambition supported by Geneva residents.

Located in the Palais des Nations park, just below the Alley of Flags, the project is situated at the heart of a unique ecosystem: Geneva, the birthplace of humanitarian action, human rights, and international cooperation, and the European seat of the United Nations. It was here that the idea took shape, born from the meeting of Ivan Pictet, principal donor and initiator of the project, and Michael Møller, then Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva. Their shared ambition: to give the Palais des Nations a space dedicated to welcoming the general public, one worthy of its international standing.

Spanning nearly 2,000 m², the Portail des Nations unfolds as an architecture of pavilions integrated into the landscape, designed and built by the Geneva-based architects Charles Pictet Baptiste Broillet Associés.

Every space, material, lighting choice, and piece of furniture has been designed in constant dialogue with the park and the values upheld by the United Nations: dialogue, cooperation, and mutual understanding. Sustainability is a requirement here, not an afterthought.

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