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might add considerably to the difficulty design number 387 by the Frenchman were involved in adapting the design of
of judging the competition. Further- Henri-Paul Nénot and the Genevan the Palais des Nations to the new site
more, they were worried that, given the Julien Flegenheimer came closest to -- however, even though the sale went
high number of potential entries, many satisfying the practical and aesthetic re- through, this never happened.
eminent architects would be discou- quirements of the new building. Howe-
raged and not bother to submit designs. ver, their project did present a number The Assembly was now eager for the
Even so, five designs were presented by of shortcomings that would require project to be finalized and urged the
American architects --the United States modification. It was therefore proposed Secretary-General to proceed. The Buil-
was not a member of the League. that Nénot and Flegenheimer should ding Committee, the Library Organizing
work together with the authors of pro- Committee and the Committee of Five
Despite the protests of a number of can- jects 117 (Carlo Broggi, Italy), 143 (Ca- made some last-minute alterations and
didates, the closing date for entries was mille Lefévre, France) and 431 (Joseph the final revised plans were accepted
maintained at 25 January 1927. A total Vago, Hungary). These five architects on 1 June 1929. However, the detailed
Of 377 projects was received from fifty- were invited to resolve the last problems plans of the interior of the Assembly
eight countries by the deadline invol- and submit a single comprehensive de- Hall were withheld pending the out-
ving the work of more than 500 archi- sign by 1 March 1928. With the excep- comes of studies on its acoustics. In
tects. Although the jury was expected to tion of the Assembly Hall, particularly September, the tenth Assembly autho-
declare the winner within three weeks, its façade, the new design presented by rized the Committee of Five to take all
the months of February, March and the architects was approved. the remaining decisions concerning the
April went by without any news. Finally, construction of the League's new home.
on 5 May the jury announced its unani- During the same eighth Assembly of A foundation stone was laid at a cere-
mous verdict: it could not make up its September 1927, it was learned that mony which took place on 7 September
mind! Given the general disagreement, the American philanthropist John D. 1929.
the jury decided that each of its nine Rockefeller Jr. had proposed to contri-
members should award a first, second bute the sum of US$2 million for the Following on from the architectural
and third prize according to their per- construction and equipping of the libra- competition, the five architects --Nénot,
sonal preferences. The result was that ry --provided the League of Nations ac- Broggi, Flegenheimer, Lefèvre and Vago
there were nine first prizes, nine second cepted the principle of external funding. -- set to work preparing the technical
prizes and nine third prizes -- and not The Council of the League proposed drawings. Up until October 1931, Nénot
one project was chosen twice, with the that the gift should be accepted and the employed his two assistants, Luigi Fran-
result that a total of twenty-seven de- Assembly approved it three days later. zi and Guiseppe Vaccaro, in executing
signs were selected. Given that several A special group was constituted -- the the design work. On such a huge under-
people may have worked as a team to Library Organizing Committee -- to taking, it would have seemed plausible
submit a design, even the judges' first supervise its construction. This meant that each architect was responsible for a
prizes involved the work of sixteen that the Library would become a sepa- particular part of the building -- but the
architects. All of the designs selected rate building, an outcome that was to five architects felt that there was a dan-
went over-budget (some by several have irrevocable consequences -- the ger of each person imposing his views
times), with the exception of the project piece of land on the lake shore was no on that section leading to a lack of unity.
submitted by Le Corbusier and his col- longer big enough! The only answer was They then tried taking turns at directing
league Pierre Jeanneret. to extend the building site northward the project, but this didn't work either
on to the land of the Villa Barton, which since the person ultimately responsible
Among the most extraordinary designs had already been envisaged earlier as inevitably followed his personal tastes
was one by the German architect Peter a possible building site. However, the on the design. Finally, they decided that
Birkenholz, which consisted of a colos- owner of the property, Mrs Alex Barton, the only way to proceed was as a team,
sal concrete sphere resting on a massive known as "La Reine de Genève", refused approving each decision by a majority
square foundation. Another German to sell her beautiful domain. There was vote.
architect, Josef Rings, had the idea of no alternative; it became necessary to
placing the Palais des Nations on an ar- find another piece of land! When it came to actually constructing
tificial island in the middle of the lake! the building, the first task was to se-
A year later, at the ninth meeting of lect an enterprise capable of bringing
The jury's decision, amounting to an the Assembly in September 1928, the the project to a successful conclusion.
impasse, led to exasperation. In an Committee of Five recommended that Given the size of the undertaking, the
attempt to find a solution, the eighth the League should accept the Genevan League encouraged several companies
Assembly meeting in September 1927 Authorities proposal to exchange the to amalgamate in order to propose their
appointed a Committee of Five diplo- previously acquired six hectares on the joint services. In this way, the contract
mats to resolve the issue -- one each lake shore with the twenty-five hectares was awarded to the newly-created
from Japan, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, of the Pare Ariana. Secretary-General Entreprise du Palais des Nations, a
Greece and the United Kingdom, with Sir Eric Drummond for the League and consortium of one Italian, one French
the Netherlands and Venezuela provi- Guiseppe Motta for the Swiss Confede- and three Swiss companies. Building
ding substitutes. Before choosing one ration were given full powers to sign the work actually began on 1 March 1931, by
architectural design, this committee convention concerning the exchange of which time the League of Nations was
soon made two significant decisions: (a) properties. Many people, not least the about to endure the first political humi-
that the budget should be increased to architects involved in the project, were liations that would lead to its demise.
19.5 million Swiss francs (equivalent to distraught about the lost opportunity to (To be continued.)
a volume of 325,000m3); and (b) that embellish the image of Geneva with a
a synthesis might be sought among the grandiose edifice on the lake shore --"A John Fox
nine first-prize-winning designs. Then, Paradise Lost". The owners of the Pare Source: Pallas, J.-C. (2001). Histoire
on 22 December 1927, the Committee of Ariana agreed to sell it on condition et architecture du Palais des Nations.
Five expressed its overall conclusions: that Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret Geneva: United Nations.

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