To reduce the visual impact of new buildings, landscaping is discussed with local authorities and included in the planning permission applications.
CERN makes sure that any additions or adjustments to the existing landscape do not alter its overall appearance.
The landscaping projects are always adapted to each site to avoid the creation of artificial-looking sites. In each case, trees and bushes indigenous to the local region have been planted and grassed areas have been created.
Landscaping examples
LHC PA1 site
The large building covering the access pits at the LHC PA1 (Meyrin) has been encased in timber cladding and its roof has been broken up into three slightly inclined planes so as to reduce the visual impact of the building's length.
A mound planted with trees was created to screen Point 1 from the nearby farm.
A new control room for the ATLAS experiment has been housed in an entirely glazed building. The area around the building was landscaped.
At LHC PA5 site (Cessy), part of the earth spoil was used for landscaping purposes in the immediate vicinity of the site so as to reduce the visual impact of the new buildings housing the CMS experiment. Substantial landscaping is underway at the retention basin which was used for the LHC PA5 civil-engineering worksite, to settle down suspended matter concentrated in the effluents. Similar landscaping was already realized during the LEP era (end 1980’s) at PA6 site (Versonnex), resulting in a remarkable biotope with its particular flora and fauna.
LHC PA5
View of the biotope at PA6
Natural floral reserve
The wish of CERN to integrate its installations within the landscape leads CERN to plant rather than clear. In the past, several thousands of trees have been planted and green areas were created on the CERN sites. Today, some of them are protected due to their colonization by numerous species of orchids.
The Meyrin site shelters the largest number of Ophrys apifera Huds (Ophrys abeille of the Orchidacea family) in the
Geneva
region.
