Source: Werner Huber, Publireportage. Berner Kulturagenda
In its compactness, the concert building is reminiscent of the Victoria Hall in Geneva. Its acoustics have even been compared to the world-famous Wigmore Hall in London. Yet it was originally built as a house of worship: the Yehudi Menuhin Forum in Bern.
In 2009, Werner Schmitt, the long-standing director of the Bern Conservatory, signed a long-term lease for the Church of Christian Science at Helvetiaplatz. For the rapidly shrinking congregation, this ensured the continued use of the building for its own purposes. For Bern’s concert life, the 470-seat hall filled a gap between the city’s smaller and larger venues. The hall is operated by EducARTES GmbH, a non-profit company founded expressly for this purpose. At the same time, the non-profit Friends’ Association of the Yehudi Menuhin Forum Bern was established, with the aim of eventually creating a foundation to take over the building. Now that time has come: the Christian Science Association of Bern (CWVB) will transfer the building under a leasehold agreement to the recently established foundation. This not only secures the future of the now well-established cultural venue, but also makes it possible to renovate the property and definitively adapt it to its current purpose. The biggest shortcoming: the absence of an elevator to provide barrier-free access. Here, the Bern-based elevator company Emch can contribute its extensive expertise in working with historically protected structures.
In the beginning, there was the church
As early as 1917, the Christian Scientist congregation had acquired the plot on Helvetiaplatz for the construction of a church. After some delays, the building was completed in 1926/27 based on designs by the Bernese architectural firm Nigst & Padel. The architects conceived the church as a compact structure with a hipped roof, rather closed to the outside. The portal, flanked by pilasters, creates a strong accent. With its late neoclassical forms, the building recalls historical temple architecture.
Inside, the building conceals two large halls stacked one above the other. On the raised ground floor lies the two-storey church hall with a gallery running along three sides. A vaulted wooden ceiling, segmented into individual strips, spans the space and ensures the hall’s excellent acoustics. The showpiece of the hall is the organ with 32 stops, built by the renowned organ maker Kuhn in Männedorf. The surprisingly tall hall in the basement would today be described as a multipurpose room. Once decorated in dark, warm colours, with fabric valances along the ceiling beams to improve the acoustics, it served as a venue where, as the newspaper Der Bund wrote, “rhetorical and musical performances were broadcast through loudspeakers in the American style.” In contrast to the main hall, the original furnishings here have not been preserved.
In consultation with the heritage authorities
After the church had made its initial considerations for converting the building, Werner Schmitt contacted Martin Gsteiger of 3B Architekten. During Schmitt’s tenure as director, the firm had planned and subsequently carried out the renovation of the Conservatory. In addition to the refurbishment measures required for a hundred-year-old building, the architects are primarily concerned with two questions: How can the building be made barrier-free? And how can the limited entrance area be complemented by a foyer?
An Emch glass elevator as an option for a barrier-free access to the Forum’s foyer. © 3B Architekten
In consultation with the heritage authorities, a location for an elevator was quickly identified: one of the two symmetrically arranged stairwells. The preservation office has also given its basic approval for an extension to replace the existing exterior staircase. What the elevator and the extension will ultimately look like is still open. The suspended redevelopment project for Helvetiaplatz is also being taken into account in the planning. The visualization merely illustrates a possible volume in maximum transparency. That it will look exactly like this in the end is unlikely, as Martin Gsteiger and his team are still at the beginning of the design process.
Separate or integrate?
The engineers at Emch have already sketched out the elevator in broad terms and captured it in a visualization. The image shows that an elevator can be installed at this location while keeping the round window above the staircase visible. It also demonstrates that the structural elements can be reduced to a minimum. However, this is not yet a project, but merely the starting point for the architect. Twenty years ago, one might have implemented the elevator in precisely this form: as transparent, inconspicuous, and detached from the historic building. Today, other approaches are also conceivable. Martin Gsteiger is considering how to incorporate elements of the architectural language of Nigst & Padel into the elevator’s design, so that it becomes a natural, integral part of the building. Should a lattice-like structure enclose the shaft? Should a closed wooden “capsule” move up and down inside it? Or will transparency ultimately prevail after all?
The planned extension of the Yehudi Menuhin Forum Bern shows the new foyer with a transparent entrance area on Helvetiaplatz. © 3B Architekten
Martin Gsteiger can look back on a long history of collaboration with Emch: more than thirty years ago, as a young architect with Clémençon & Ernst Architekten—the predecessor of 3B—he worked on the renovation of the Spitalacker school building. On site with Bernhard Emch and the engineer, the objective was clear: a glass elevator. But Gsteiger had doubts: was a sheer glass shaft really the right solution for a school? His answer was a translucent, enclosed shaft clad in glass panels. In the conversion of the Yehudi Menuhin Forum as well, the architects will collaborate closely with Emch’s engineers to develop a solution that is both architecturally appropriate and technically feasible—tailor-made for the century-old building.
Werner Schmitt, the driving force behind the project
Without him, there would be neither the Yehudi Menuhin Forum Bern nor the foundation that is now taking over and renovating the building: Werner Schmitt. The cellist, originally from the Eifel region, has lived in Switzerland for fifty years and was for many years the director of the Bern Conservatory. Schmitt was a friend of the violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), who from the mid-1950s spent his summers in Gstaad and, in 1957, launched what is today the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. It is important to Schmitt that Menuhin be remembered—not only as a musician, but above all for the values he conveyed as a philosopher. “Art is for everyone,” Menuhin liked to say. In 1991, Werner Schmitt was involved in the founding of the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation in Brussels, and together with Menuhin he launched the music education project MUS-E in 1993. The following year, the legendary five-hour benefit concert Tous les violons du Monde took place at the Casino Bern, in support of this program and of the Conservatory’s scholarship fund.
Werner Schmitt at the Yehudi Menuhin Forum. © Courtesy
Schmitt is also the driving force behind the Yehudi Menuhin Forum Bern and the plans to acquire and renovate the building. An initial cost estimate by the architects puts the financial requirement at around 10 million Swiss francs—one quarter for the extension, three quarters for the renovation of the building including the elevator. With the establishment of the foundation that will take over the property, large-scale fundraising can now begin. Werner Schmitt is well connected in Bern and beyond, and he is confident that the necessary funds can be raised. As he emphasizes: “This undertaking is not the whim of just a few, but a realistic and concrete project.” If everything goes according to plan, the building application can be submitted at the beginning of 2026, with the renewed and expanded building ready by 2028.
Further information: Werner Schmitt w.schmitt@bluewin.ch menuhinforum.ch
Bernhard Emch, CEO of EMCH Elevators Ltd and mechanical engineer ETH, has been leading the company since 2005 in the fourth generation. © EMCH Elevators Ltd
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We are a family-owned company founded in 1880, developing, producing, installing, and maintaining elevators worldwide. All of our manufacturing takes place at our workshop in Bern. In addition to customized special constructions, we also deliver standard solutions. For the Yehudi Menuhin Forum Bern project, we are contributing our expertise in working with historically protected structures and are developing a tailor-made solution for barrier-free access together with the architects.