18-10-2017

Dominique Perrault: recovery of the ME building in EPFL Lausanne

Vincent Fillon / Dominique Perrault Architecte / Adagp,

Going back to the first masterplan for Lausanne Politechnic (EPFL), the ME building has been returned to an image and spatial qualities close to other buildings of its time as New Mechanics Hall, thanks to a restoration project by Dominique Perrault Architect with artistic direction by Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost.



Dominique Perrault: recovery of the ME building in EPFL Lausanne
During the modernisation of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) beginning in 2000, following a significant change in image resulting from the architecture of SANAA’s Rolex Learning Center, Dominique Perrault and Steiner restored and redeveloped the Mechanical Engineering or ME building, going back to the original masterplan of the seventies.
EPFL was founded in 1853 as a private school, and towards the end of the century it became part of the university education system managed by the canton; in 1969 it became a federal institute and took on its current name. A few years later it was moved to Écublens, where the first buildings in the new complex were inaugurated forty years ago.
The inevitable evolution of the campus’s original form and the growing number of visitors due to creation of museums and conference centres convinced the directors to revise the original masterplan over the years, opening the doors to the idea of architecture as a vehicle for communication with the Learning Centre project.
Renewal of the building’s architectural identity was one of the goals of Dominique Perrault, who won the 2011 competition for transformation of the ME building into the New Mechanics Hall, facing SANAA’s building to the south.
The old wings of the original project by Zweifel + Stricker + Associates were demolished to make way for a new building with a rectangular floor plan arranged on four levels above ground and one below ground, connected by bridge buildings. The interiors are organised on the basis of the original rigid grid of spaces, mirroring one another along the building’s cross axis, consisting of a big foyer joining the two wings. A total of 19,000 square metres contain the administrative offices and the Department of Engineering (Sciences et Techniques de l’Ingénieur, or STI) and the research laboratories and workspaces of the Life Sciences Department (Sciences de la Vie, or SV).
The pavilion’s spirit and purpose are represented by a palette of materials and colours including unfinished concrete, cement, PVC and wire mesh, alternating between glossy and matt finishes, whites and blacks, graphically accentuated by black handrails and tube-shaped wall-mounted light fixtures in the big foyer, designed by Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost.
These sharp lines cut and direct the empty spaces of stairways and diagonal walkways, suspended corridors and mezzanines providing a theatre for relationships of all kinds, for discussion and entertainment, encouraging random encounters without getting in the way of the traffic. Individual bureaus are located around the building’s perimeter, directly overlooking the campus through big windows providing plenty of regulated natural light. The eastern, southern and western walls pay homage to the metal modules of the historic pavilion, preserved on the northern side, in dialogue with the bridge buildings. These new prefabricated surfaces form a double skin, with an internal layer for thermal insulation and soundproofing and an external sunbreak, with the same type of metal skin as Perrault used in the French National Library in Paris (in accordance with today’s Minergie® energy standards).
The modules are divided into three vertical panels, two of which slide while one is static, with an inclination of 5°. Everyday use reveals the dynamism of this cladding, which recalls the concept of mechanisation and robotisation of the seventies while admiring, for example, the curve formed by the panels of the platform roof over the entrance, with a lightness closer to Deconstructivism. Unlike the original façades, which were modular but compact, aiming to establish the division between interior and exterior, Perrault’s skin is sensitive to time and the weather, permeable to light, transforming as a result of the dialogue the building establishes with its surroundings. The metal frame is reduced at night, disappearing, so that the volume seems to be covered with a transparent curtain.
This concentration of interest in the architectural body creates a new dialectic with the new heart of the EPFL, the Rolex Learning Centre, emphasising the importance of the Rue de Noyerettes as the main axis of the campus.

Mara Corradi

Architects: Dominique Perrault Architect designed-build project with Steiner SA
Engineering:  SARL (facades), BETICA SA (mechanical electrical), Daniel Willi SA (structure), DSILENCE SA (acoustics), Duchein SA (sanitary system)
Artistic direction and design: Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost
Local Architect: Architram Architecture et urbanisme SA
Client: Swiss Confederation represented by the board of the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne  
Location: Campus EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
Structural design: Daniel Willi SA
Gross useable floor space: 19 004 sqm
Lot size: 15 500 sqm
Competition: 2011
Start of work: February 2011
Completion of work: May  2016
Structure in reinforced concrete slabs with pretensioned beams / metallic roof structure
Façades in glass / metal / metallic mesh prebuilt modules
Indoor surfaces: concrete/ metal
Outdoor surfaces
Floors: cement / PVC
Photographs: © Vincent Fillon / Dominique Perrault Architecte / Adagp 

http://www.perraultarchitecture.com
http://www.gaellelauriotprevost.com

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