UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma

12/01/2017. EPFL campus [Lausanne] Switzerland
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA

The ArtLab building is the culmination of a long-term initiative undertaken by EPFL’s Senior Management in 2010. The overall aim was to revitalize Place Cosandey, a nearly 3-hectare space at the heart of the campus, and turn it into a campus commons. Code name: Objectif Campus.

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Valentin Jeck

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Valentin Jeck

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Michel Denancé

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Damien Barakat

Exploded Axonometric. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Valentin Jeck

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Damien Barakat

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Michel Denancé

Concept. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Damien Barakat

Integrating Pedestrian Flow. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Valentin Jeck

Green Spaces. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

Ground floor plan. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

First floor plan. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

Roof plan. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

Cross section. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

Longitudinal section. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

East and west elevation. Cross section. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

Structural Frame Scheme. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

Structural Frame. UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma.

UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma. Photography © Michel Denancé

The ArtLab architecture competition, was won by Kengo Kuma Architects, which was launched in early 2012, called for three separate spaces highlighting the intersection of science, the public and the arts. In the completed building, the first space is a welcome area where campus visitors can learn about the main research projects under way at EPFL; the second space, cultural in scope, houses an exhibition space intended to host innovative art installations; the third space is devoted to preserving the Montreux Jazz Festival archives and promoting their use, including through a café.

Description of the project by Kengo Kuma Architects

The new campus for Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)is named Artlab, which consists of three programs – an Arts & Science Pavilion, a Technology & Information Gallery, and the Montreux Jazz Café. The three boxes are tucked under a grand pitched roof that stretches as long as 235m. Between each box, we designed an aperture area that generates two axes. The two lines help to marshal the flow of people and reorganize all the buildings in the campus.

There is a Japanese saying, “living under one roof,” which means various and different individuals get together and team up, and Artlab is exactly the architectural translation of this expression.

For the structure and the exterior, we used timbers that are commonly found in Switzerland, in order to create space with local warmth. The wooden pillars are sandwiched with steel plates on both sides so that the space can be equally gentle and transparent. The roofing is in stone, which is based on the method applied in ordinary Swiss houses. The roof transfigures like origami according to the function underneath, and creates faces responding to light and shadow.

The project site is a vast lawn, a void in the middle of the EPFL campus. It disconnects the North side of the campus (where the Esplanade plaza, social heart of the campus, and the tram station are) from the students’ residential area in the South. Also it separates the dense West part of the campus from the currently evolving East side that is articulated around the Learning Center which, despite its impressive presence, has not been able to organize and cohere its surroundings, until now, residual and dysfunctional.

The given vast project site allowed us to locate and configure the pavilions in many ways. Finally we decided to gather the three required pavilions into one very thin and long building that, as a purposeful trace in the territory, thus transforming the site from being a dysfunctional void into a new public space within the campus.

-The 240m long roof will provide shelter to the pedestrian ow from the north Esplanade plaza down South to the residences throughout the day.

-The porches provided between the pavilions uni ed under the roof are connected one to the main street coming from the West side where main public parking areas are located, and the other to the new tree promenade from the East. Therefore, the porches will provide permeability through the building attracting and connecting these West and East sides of the campus.

By transforming the site into a place where students, professors and visitors will comfortably pass by every day enjoying the new activities that will take place under this roof, we are con dent that this whole area will become an essential spot within the campus that will bring a more social and cultural dimension to the EPFL.

Structure
In order to frame and protect the view of the lake from the existing Esplanade plaza, the building remains very thin in its northern end, about 5m, and its sections widens up to 16m on its southern end. To solve structurally such an exaggerated slender building that always changes in width, we developed a new kind of structure solution combining wood and steel. Changing the proportion of the wood/steel composition allowed to have all the 57 structure portals (that are all different in span) to have the exact same section throughout the building, making the whole envelope of the project modular and able to be prefabricated.

Façade
The building’s eaves provide shelter for those walking along the piazza between the Esplanade, heart of the campus, and the student housing in the South. Due to those eaves protecting the upper side of the façade, its wooden cladding would age in a heterogeneous way throughout the surface; therefore the wood was pre-aged in order to achieve a stable presence during its life span. Local larch was chosen for the façade as it has good endurance based on local practice. The light gray tone of the pre-aged wood cladding, together with the dark grey slate roofing, give a rather quiet and subtle presence to the building, despite its remarkable length. These cold grayish tones dialogue with those of other buildings surrounding the piazza and as well with the generally overcast weather of Lausanne. It is only when one gets closer to the building, receiving shelter by its roof, that we discover the warmth of its vast wooden ceiling.

More information

Lead Architects

Kengo Kuma & Associates / Javier Villar Ruiz (Partner in charge) with.- Nicola Maniero, Rita Topa, Marc Moukarzel, Jaeyung Joo, Cristina GimenezLocal ArchitectCCHE

Local Architects

CCHE

General Contractor

Marti Construction SA, Lausanne

Dimensions and features

Total volume.- 17,586 m3 Total net surface area.- 3,360 m² Space for displaying EPFL’s major research projects (Datasquare): net surface area of 629 m², including 260 m² of exhibition space; volume.- 3,932 m3 Space for artistic research and experimentation: net surface area of 1,836 m², including 618 m² of exhibition space; volume: 9,676 m3

Dates

2012.5 - 2016.11

Cost

• Construction cost: CHF 30,900,000 • Cost of equipment, listening booths and permanent display structure: CHF 4,600,000

KENGO KUMA

Kengo Kuma was born in Yokohama (Kanagawa, Japan) in 1954. He studied architecture at the University of Tokyo, finishing his degree in 1979. In 1987, he opened the "Spatial Design Studio". In 1990 he founded "Kengo Kuma & Associates" and extend the study to Europe (Paris, France) in 2008. Since 1985 and until 2009, has taught as visiting professor and holder at the universities of Columbia, Keio, Illinois and Tokyo.

Main Awards:

· 2011 The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize for "Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum."
· 2010 Mainichi Art Award for “Nezu Museum.”
· 2009 "Decoration Officier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" (France).
· 2008 Energy Performance + Architecture Award (France). Bois Magazine International Wood Architecture Award (France).
· 2002 Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (Finland).
· 2001 Togo Murano Award for “Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum.”
· 1997 Architectural Institute of Japan Award for “Noh Stage in the Forest”. First Place, AIA DuPONT Benedictus Award for “Water/Glass” (USA).

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UNDER ONE ROOF project for the EPFL ArtLab by Kengo Kuma

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