The old and the new (III)
The plaque on the old building reads "1891": that's the year that Brown Boveri, the progenitor of ABB, was founded in Baden. I had talked a little bit about ABB in the Lauffohr post. In 1999, ABB entered a joint venture with Alstom, a French company, in which Alstom took over most of ABB's power generation business. According to the Alstom Switzerland website, they're "a global leader in power and rail infrastructure." While both these companies are spread out all over the planet, most of the engineering divisions remain in Baden as far as I know.
I'm still looking for more information about the old building. Notice the bell on the roof. What do you think was the original purpose of the building?
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5 comments:
I really like your "the old and the new" series. I don't know how I feel about it all. I understand that a city needs to grow and expand but do we do it at the expense of older buildings??
Old and New: quite interesting subject, and beautiful pictures. Loved the idea of showing the merits of a small Swiss village. I’m going to pass it over to my friends in Sugnens, Vaud (much smaller than Villigen)... :)
Gil
I like the glass building and the older one in the foreground but what's that awful thing on the left?
Glass has got to be at least a million times better than concrete anyday. In mho opinion of course:)
Angela
The original purpose could have been a school or chapel. What do you think?
Your theme is great and CH should be an ideal place to study old v/s new again and again.
Ming: I agree that cities and towns need to grow, and they should. I think as long as older construction is evaluated fairly and preserved when appropriate, and the new designs are "sensitive" to the existing buildings then things are good.
Gil: Thanks for visiting and commenting! I had to look up Sugnens: 232 inhabitants! Wow! What do your friends do there?
Angela: I can totally understand where you're coming from!
Per: Those are good guesses, but would it be located on ABB property? I was thinking of original offices, with the bell ringing out the times for the shift changes.
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