The Rolex Learning Center, Ecole Polytechnique Federale
Lausanne, Switzerland · 2009
Photo · Photo by Hisao Suzuki
An aerial precedent of the Rolex Learning Center demonstrating how a single undulating concrete slab can create a continuous, wall-free interior topography and integrated outdoor courtyards.
- What we like about this project
- The building's floor slab lifts completely off the ground in several places to allow pedestrians to walk underneath.
Materials
- concrete
- glass
- steel
- membrane-roofing
Visual identifiers
- undulating-slab
- organic-courtyards
- continuous-roof
- concrete-shell
Style tags
- minimalist
- fluid
- organic-modernism
- structural-expressionism
Visual tags
- fluid-space
- topographical-architecture
- courtyard-building
- campus-hub
- structural-innovation
- Geometry
- A single rectangular footprint with an undulating, wave-like concrete floor and roof slab, punctured by organic, rounded courtyards of varying sizes.
- Facade system
- Curved, floor-to-ceiling structural glass ribbon facade following the undulating concrete contours.
- Structural guess
- Post-tensioned thin-shell concrete arches and vaults supported by minimal steel columns.
- Spatial scale
- A sprawling, low-slung, single-story structure covering a massive footprint, scaled to a university campus scale.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight casting soft shadows beneath the undulating concrete underpasses.
- Atmosphere
- A calm, expansive, and highly integrated architectural landscape under a soft gray sky.
- Environmental context
- Situated on a flat university campus in Lausanne, surrounded by mid-rise academic buildings and distant hills under a cloudy sky.
- Spatial experience
- The building acts as an artificial landscape, where the floor rises and falls to create natural divisions and open underpasses without traditional walls.
- Composition rhythm
- A series of fluid, organic voids puncturing a rigid rectangular boundary, creating a rhythmic play of solid and void.
- Style reading
- Japanese structural minimalism / SANAA fluid formalism
- Program
- University library and learning center
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- concrete, glass, steel, membrane-roofing
- Visual identifiers
- undulating-slab, organic-courtyards, continuous-roof, concrete-shell
- Style tags
- minimalist, fluid, organic-modernism, structural-expressionism
- Visual tags
- fluid-space, topographical-architecture, courtyard-building, campus-hub, structural-innovation
- Geometry
- A single rectangular footprint with an undulating, wave-like concrete floor and roof slab, punctured by organic, rounded courtyards of varying sizes.
- Facade system
- Curved, floor-to-ceiling structural glass ribbon facade following the undulating concrete contours.
- Structural guess
- Post-tensioned thin-shell concrete arches and vaults supported by minimal steel columns.
- Spatial scale
- A sprawling, low-slung, single-story structure covering a massive footprint, scaled to a university campus scale.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight casting soft shadows beneath the undulating concrete underpasses.
- Atmosphere
- A calm, expansive, and highly integrated architectural landscape under a soft gray sky.
- Environmental context
- Situated on a flat university campus in Lausanne, surrounded by mid-rise academic buildings and distant hills under a cloudy sky.
- Spatial experience
- The building acts as an artificial landscape, where the floor rises and falls to create natural divisions and open underpasses without traditional walls.
- Composition rhythm
- A series of fluid, organic voids puncturing a rigid rectangular boundary, creating a rhythmic play of solid and void.
- Style reading
- Japanese structural minimalism / SANAA fluid formalism
- Program
- University library and learning center
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture