For the Braillard Architectes Foundation, conservation does not entail systematic opposition to any proposal to convert or alter a building. It is rather a matter of prevention and anticipation.

A building lives and survives through a permanent process of transformation, subject to time and its effects. Renovation can therefore never aspire to be definitive and permanent: its goal can only be to secure the best conditions for proper upkeep and control of decay and for continuing occupation and use. The task of the Foundation is then to provide monitoring and support tailored to each building, and to this end it has developed a permanent programme of continuous fieldwork.

Since 1995 the BAF has implemented a strategy based on preventive intervention, consultation, and the provision of advice (more especially on technical matters).

The first step was to draw up a complete inventory of Braillard buildings, including a comprehensive record of their condition.

The task is to provide monitoring and support tailored to each building, and to this end the Foundation has developed a permanent programme of continuous fieldwork.

On the basis of this list, the Foundation maintains a programme of more or less frequent inspection, depending on the importance of each building. This work has led to the acquisition of a detailed knowledge of the individual buildings, which represents a valuable and reliable resource for the different actors who may one day have to deal with them.

Regular contact is maintained with owners, managing agents and public institutions such as the historic monuments section of Geneva’s public works directorate to coordinate the process with them and to communicate the collected information.

Among the concrete results of this strategy are the listing of the Maison Ronde by the Canton of Geneva and the Foundation input into the alterations to the Squares de Montchoisy, the conversion of the Garage des Nations, the PAX Assurance, HSBC, Zurich Assurances and Paribas buildings, and the addition of a new floor to the second Maison Ronde in the rue de l’Encyclopédie.

The Foundation has thus become a valued source of advice on conservation matters.

Those engaged in the renovation or conversion of Braillard buildings now turn to the BAF for assistance, benefiting from its accumulated experience in order to undertake such work in the best conditions possible. The Foundation thus helps avoid unnecessary demolitions and inappropriate alterations.