Destroy To Recreate

2024 Author: David Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-09 00:52

Lausanne Polytechnic is an educational center with a long history: more than 150 years. Now the school is one of the best engineering universities in the world. A new stage of its development began in the 2000s, when, simultaneously with the reform of the institutional structure of the school, a large-scale reconstruction of the campus began.

The right to build two buildings - the central library (building BI) and the engineering building - as a result of the competition in 2011 went to the French architect Dominique Perrault, who at home was not afraid to entrust the work on the buildings of the Ministry of Defense and the National Library, although his project of the Second Stage The Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg was never realized.

Construction began in 2012. The first was

the colorful library was completed, and in 2016, as planned, the engineering building was completed.

The conceptual basis of the project was the preservation of the semantic and spatial structure of the old modernist building, built in the 1970s. At the beginning of the XXI century, the building was pretty dilapidated, and therefore it was demolished, preserving and improving its structure in a new "version".

The building of the engineering building is, first of all, an experimental site and laboratory for researchers, based on this principle, its program was formed. It is solved as functionally as possible: a number of important laboratories, auditoriums and public spaces, and administrative premises are located here. The building consists of 4 levels: the first - infrastructural - is maximally integrated with the next three, "functional".

The parts of the hull are independent from each other in technical aspects, but due to the atrium they are connected visually and socially. The atrium is the heart of the new building and the main experimental site. Large and spacious, it serves not only for circulation and communication, but also as a workspace for students.

The atrium is completely crossed by staircases-passages connecting opposite sides and floors. Their cobwebs lend dynamism to a minimalist interior. Color palette - black and white in various interpretations, matte and polished surfaces. Black highlights the railings and lamps designed by Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévos, installed along the walkways. Additional stripes and tints are created by sunlight penetrating through a large dome of light.

The architects used raw concrete in combination with metal, transparent and translucent partitions. This adds depth to the space and creates multiple perspectives for the viewer.

The structure of the facade is formed by two shells: the inner one provides thermoregulation and sound protection, the outer one is made of metal mesh panels stretched over the frame; they are responsible for sun protection. The outer shell is divided into modules of three panels deflected from the walls at an angle of 5 degrees in opposite directions, which makes the façade appear to be wicker. The top panel of each module is fixed in place, while the bottom two are adjustable.

Mesh panels are Perrault's recognizable style. He fell in love with him even during the work on the project of the National Library of France, she came in very handy in Lausanne, creating a light, weightless image of the building.

The broken surfaces of the three facades are a figurative embodiment of "mechanics", and the fourth, northern facade is a reflection of the building opposite. In the central part, the panels soar upward, open the entrance and thus form a light canopy.

In the evening, multi-layered perforated walls let light outside, and the engineering building turns into a kind of beacon for the entire campus.