EPFL - Federal Polytechnic University of Lausanne - was founded back in 1853, and in 1968 a site was allocated for the university campus in the suburban town of Ecublanc. The main part of the campus was built in 1971–78, dividing pedestrian and traffic flows at different levels, but the process is still ongoing, and the spectacular Rolex training center by SANAA, which opened in 2010, is not yet final. And on April 27 this year, the symbolic "laying of the first stone" - planting a tree in the atrium of the library building being reconstructed - opened a new stage of campus development.
It combined the reconstruction of two existing buildings: the central library (building BI) and the pavilion of mechanics / mechanical engineering (building ME). Both projects were designed by French architect Domenique Perrault as part of a “urban development plan” for the entire campus.
The vibrant rainbow façades of the BI building, which will house the EPFL administration, mark the beginning of the walking and cycling paths linking the metro station, the Rolex training center and the convention center currently under construction (Richter Dahl Rocha & Associés, Lausanne). The ongoing BI restructuring will be completed in 2013.
The ME body is intended for the Center for Neuroprosthetics (CNP). The massive parallelepiped of the hangar will be faced with steel panels. Their perforation and inclination will give lightness to the brutal building, “dematerialize” it. As the French say, Domenique Perrault is "an architect who gets rid of architecture." Work will begin this summer and will run until February 2015.
To complete a new network of pedestrian paths and increase teaching spaces across Piccard Avenue, Domenique Perrault plans to throw the Brücke der Lehre (Bridge of Learning), which will rise above all buildings on the campus and give the urban composition a dynamic. On its top floor there will be a "Learning Laboratory" - a symbol of the educational mission of the university. The Most will make up the second stage of the Perrault reconstruction; its project is still at the initial stage of development.
Tatiana Pashintseva
