62 LAUSANNE
SWITZERLAND, A COUNTRY practically synonymous with international diplomacy, has an identity quite apart from its status as a global hub; a historic heart that was already a couple of thousand years old when the international organisations came to town; a chocolatey confederation of autonomous cantons, strong on political democracy; a clean, prosperous, conservative place, with its citizen soldiery, tax advantages offered to people wealthy enough to qualify for them, finishing schools, f lawlessly efficient hotels, mountain chalets, cuckoo clocks, Heidi, cheese with holes, ski resorts, superb roads, brilliantly lit tunnels, trains that run on time, a predictable postal service, the best medical facilities, longer life expectancy than most; a daydream land, where everything is done in four official languages, all in the most elegant, understated typography, and everything and everywhere always at peace. There’s assisted dying too, the last human right – to die with dignity; neutrality; that flag… ‘I’m happy at Lausanne,’ the Belgian
writer Georges Simenon said of the city in 1973. ‘I have never had anyone ringing my doorbell without an invitation.’ With its striking position on the shores of Lake Geneva directly opposite the undiminished beauty of the Alps, this city on a hill is the home of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters, and where a new quartiers des arts exists. It is a place to see just how one’s concept of Swissness might need refreshing. As elderly paddle-steamers ease themselves past lakeside gardens it is time to don those new Swiss-made ultra- cushioned On Cloudboom Strike LightSpray high-performance seamless shoes and get running. Tere is a lot to see… Te moment when a door opened to let
the future into Lausanne was arguably the day Pierre Keller became the director of the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (Ecal) in 1995. An extraordinary force of nature, he transformed Ecal into one of the world’s most influential design schools, bringing in international brands to set real-world briefs for students while generating income for the school, a practice that has since been adopted by other leading schools. He pretty much single-handedly redefined art and design in Switzerland, and then for an encore was instrumental in appointing Bernard Tschumi to design the school’s new premises in a former knitting factory in Lausanne, a project completed in 2007 that raised the school’s profile even higher. Keller’s appointment to Ecal effectively unlocked the door to so much of the new building and especially the stellar quartiers des arts that is Lausanne today. In 2010 came the Rolex Learning Centre
by SANAA at another college, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
Right The Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, designed by Bernard Tschumi Architects
A highly innovative space, it exemplifies a place where traditional boundaries between disciplines have been broken down in a single fluid network of 20,000m2
of space,
bringing together researchers and students in a collaborative environment. Rolex’s participation was the fruit of a long- standing relationship with EPFL researching materials science and microtechnology for watch design, and its deep-rooted tradition of philanthropy in the arts, science and culture through various award schemes. EPFL employed Kengo Kuma & Associates to design its ArtLab project, a pavilion that bridges the heart of the campus and the student residences like a 230m-long piece of origami. In 2019 came Olympic House, the
new headquarters building for the IOC designed by the Copenhagen studio 3XN in collaboration with IttenBrechbühl around five key objectives that translated the movement’s core values into built form: movement, transparency, flexibility, sustainability and collaboration. Chosen ahead of 11 competing firms, that included OMA, Toyo Ito and Amanda Levete, the building consolidated the IOC’s operation around Lausanne and its 500 staff. Standing next to the 18th-century Château de Vidy, the offices are wrapped in a glass façade, and incorporate all of the numerous energy- and water-saving measures you would expect of such an organisation. Te new home is wonderful to behold. Te Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts
Lausanne (MCBA) was designed by Barcelona firm Estudio Barozzi/Veiga, which won an international competition to design both the art museum and masterplan for the city’s new cultural district where it is located. Lausanne’s two other major art institutions – a photography museum, the Musée de l’Elysée, and the museum of contemporary design, Musée de Design d’Arts appliqués Contemporains (Mudac) – also opened in the art district in 2022. Both museums are housed in one building designed by the Portuguese firm of Aires Mateus, which won a 2015 competition. Collectively known as Platforme 10, the site also includes the Fondation Toms Pauli, that exists to study, preserve and promote ancient and 20th-century textile collections, and the Fondation Félix Vallotton, established to protect and advance work of the Laussannois painter and printmaker. Right from the start a design for the new art district was seen not as an entity
detached from the city but as a trigger for the redevelopment of an abandoned area by the railway, the intention being to transform and give back to the city a large central urban space that at the time was unused and completely fragmented. Te MCBA that holds more than 10,000 works of art, was built on the site’s southern edge, parallel to the train tracks. Te 145m-long building features a distinctive ridged façade in reference to its industrial surroundings.
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