The world famous ‘pirate bubble’

Finding an apartment in Geneva can be tricky - that was already the case back in the 1980s. Back then, Swiss architect Marcel Lachat had a creative solution.

When his family grew from two to three people, the tiny apartment he and his wife were living in suddenly felt much too small. As he couldn’t find a bigger apartment to move into, and needing more space to accommodate his newborn child, Marcel Lachat decided to add a room to his flat. His solution was to enlarge it by attaching a weather balloon reinforced with polyester to the outside front window. The “pirate bubble” as it was called was later taken down but gained worldwide attention.