Rolex Learning Center, Swiss Building by SANAA, Project, EPFL Lausanne Design News, Property
Project at Ecole Polytechnique Federale, Switzerland
Rolex Learning Center Building: Swiss Project at EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne design by SANAA Architects
16 Mar 2012
Rolex Learning Center Lausanne
Design: SANAA
New photos by Nelson Garrido:
17 Feb 2010
Rolex Learning Center / EPFL
SANAA DESIGNED ROLEX LEARNING CENTER OPENS AT EPFL IN LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND
Built on the campus of EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, The Rolex Learning Center designed by the internationally acclaimed Japanese architectural practice, SANAA, will open on 22 February 2010.
Design : SANAA, architects
Rolex Learning Center photos © Hisao Suzuki
The Rolex Learning Center will function as a laboratory for learning, a library with 500,000 volumes and an international cultural hub for EPFL, open to both students and the public. Spread over one single fluid space of 20,000 sq metres, it provides a seamless network of services, libraries, information gathering, social spaces, spaces to study, restaurants, cafes and beautiful outdoor spaces. It is a highly innovative building, with gentle slopes and terraces, undulating around a series of internal ‘patios’, with almost invisible supports for its complex curving roof, which required completely new methods of construction.
“The Rolex Learning Center,” Patrick Aebischer, President of EPFL, said, “exemplifies our university as a place where traditional boundaries between disciplines are broken down, where mathematicians and engineers meet with neuroscientists and microtechnicians to envision new technologies that improve lives. We invite the public into this space to convey the message that working in science is working for the advancement of society.”
EPFL is one of the world’s leading universities in technology and science, renowned for its innovations in research and learning. It is currently ranked number one in Europe alongside Cambridge in the fields of Engineering Technology and Computer Sciences. The campus, on a site overlooking Lake Geneva and the Alps, brings together over 4,000 researchers, and 7,000 students, who work in a highly collaborative environment with international experts in engineering, science and industry.
The acclaimed Japanese architectural practice SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) was established in 1995 by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, whose pioneering buildings have created an architecture that marries aesthetic simplicity with technical complexity. SANAA’s most recent major project is the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. In 2009 they designed the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion in London. Other notable projects include the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa in Japan, and the Louvre-Lens in France, opening in 2012.
The new building in Lausanne has been financed by the Swiss government and major Swiss businesses. Rolex’s participation in the project is the fruit of a long-standing relationship with EPFL in research into materials science and microtechnology for watch design, and its deep rooted tradition of philanthropy in the arts, science and culture through the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.
Logitech made the initial contribution that launched the architectural competition. Losinger, member of Bouygues Construction Group and sponsor, was the principle contractor for the building. Credit Suisse, another financial partner for the project, will have a Future Banking Laboratory in the building. Further internationally active Swiss partners who contributed to the finance, research, and innovation of the building are Nestlé, Novartis, and SICPA.
6 Jan 2010
Rolex Learning Center – Major New Swiss Building
SANAA DESIGNED ROLEX LEARNING CENTER OPENS FEBRUARY 2010 AT EPFL IN SWITZERLAND
The Rolex Learning Center, one of Europe’s most ambitious new buildings for learning, designed by the internationally acclaimed Japanese architectural practice, SANAA, will open at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne on 22 February 2010.
The Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, known by its French acronym EPFL, is one of Europe’s leading centres for study and research into science, technology, engineering and architecture. The campus brings together over 10,000 students, professors, researchers and entrepreneurs on a landmark site on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. EPFL is currently ranked number one in Europe in the international university rankings, alongside Cambridge, in the fields of Engineering, Technology and Computer Sciences.
The Rolex Learning Center design by SANAA, is conceived as a fully integrated learning environment, providing a seamless network of services, libraries, information gathering, social spaces, spaces to study, restaurants, cafes and beautiful outdoor spaces. It is a highly experimental building, essentially one fluid space, with gentle slopes and terraces, undulating around a series of internal ‘patios’, with almost invisible supports for its complex curving roof. The Center is due to open to students and the public in February 2010, with an official opening ceremony planned in May 2010.
The acclaimed Japanese architectural practice SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) was established in 1995 by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, whose pioneering buildings have created an architecture that marries aesthetic simplicity with technical complexity. Their projects are open stages which make visible the connection between the built structure, the users and the natural environment.
SANAA’s most recent major project is the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Other notable projects include the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa in Japan (2004), the Toledo Museum of Arts, Ohio (2006), the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion in London (2009) and the Louvre-Lens in France due to open in 2012.
The new building has been financed in an innovative partnership between the Swiss government and major Swiss businesses, which include lead funding partner, Rolex. Other funding partners are Credit Suisse, Nestlé, Logitech, Losinger, Novartis and SICPA. Rolex has had a long-standing relationship with EPFL, around the areas of research into material sciences and microtechnology.
Patrick Aebischer, President of EPFL, said: “The Rolex Learning Center, as the new campus hub, exemplifies our vision of a university where traditional boundaries between faculties are broken down, where mathematicians and engineers meet with neuroscientists and microtechnicians to envision new technologies that improve lives, and where the public are inspired and made welcome.”
image © EPFL
Rolex Learning Center Building : Further Information
Rolex Learning Center Switzerland Building News
18 Dec 2009
The Rolex Learning Center, one of Europe’s most ambitious new buildings for learning, designed by the internationally acclaimed Japanese architectural practice, SANAA, will open at Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland on 22 February 2010.
Designed by SANAA and built on the EPFL campus, the new building is a vast undulating open-space, 166 meters by 120 meters, that organically welcomes the public from the inside courtyards, then ushers them through its inner topography of slopes and terraces that mimic the Swiss landscape along Lake Geneva. A unique architectural and engineering achievement, it provides a seamless network of services: libraries, information gathering, social spaces, study areas, restaurants, cafes and beautiful outdoor patios. The Center is due to open to students and the public on 22 February 2010, with an official opening ceremony planned in May 2010.
The Rolex Learning Center Switzerland building information received 181209
SANAA Architects, Japan
Photos: Nelson Garrido
Location: EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Architecture in Switzerland
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Architecture Walking Tours by e-architect
If Buildings Could Talk – visual investigation of the Rolex Learning Center
Film by Wim Wenders
If Buildings Could Talk
Key Recent Design by SANAA:
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009, Kensington Gardens, west London, UK
Design: Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion
Swiss Buildings – Selection
Cocoon office headquarters – EMEA Engineering Hub, Seefeld district
Design: Camenzind Evolution
Swiss office development
Dolder Grand Hotel – Renovation / Extension, Lake Zurich
Design: Foster + Partners with Itten + Brechbühl
Dolder Grand Switzerland
Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative
Website: https://www.epfl.ch/campus/visitors/fr/batiments-phares/rolex-learning-center/
Comments / photos for the Rolex Learning Center Swiss Architecture page welcome
