Another famous architect stamps his mark on EPFL
The former mechanical engineering halls will be coated with metal
The project to transform the former mechanical engineering halls and the central library of EPFL has been awarded to the Karl Steiner company. The architect is Dominique Perrault, who was responsible for France’s National Library, among other works. This building will house, in particular, the Center for Neuroprosthetics, which was launched at the end of 2008 and co-financed by the Bertarelli Foundation, the Defitech Foundation, the International Foundation for Research into Paraplegia (IRP) and the Sandoz Family Foundation.
The new “heart” of EPFL will be decked-out in grand style. Situated just up from the Rolex Learning Center, the mechanical engineering halls and the former central library will be completely transformed and extended.
At the end of the call for bids involving several main contractors, who in turn appointed renowned architects, it was the Swiss group Karl Steiner that won the business, thanks to the architectural designs of the Frenchman. The work of Dominique Perrault includes the creation of France’s National Library (the François Mitterand site) in Paris (1995), but also the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg, the Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea and the Fukoku Tower in Osaka. In Switzerland, Dominique Perrault is currently redesigning the whole site of the Swiss Federal Railways station in Locarno.
The budget for this project will be partly covered by the credit of 67 million Swiss francs accorded by the Federal Parliament at the end of 2009. Starting this year, the work is a follow-up – to a certain extent – to the building of the Rolex Learning Center, since the content of the central library has been moved to EPFL’s flagship building, freeing up significant space. The project will enable the regrouping of part of the central services of the school, and the creation of several new laboratories intended for the students of the School of Engineering. The Center for Neuroprosthetics, which was started at the end of 2008, and is supported by several foundations – including the Bertarelli family and Defitech (Sylviane and Daniel Borel) – will thus benefit from a dedicated and perfectly equipped location.
“The winning project convinced us because it establishes a strong link between the older buildings on the campus and the new constructions on the South side of the campus”, explains Francis-Luc Perret, Vice-President of EPFL, responsible for real estate and president of the jury. The architect has created a new, dynamic space, halfway between the Rolex Learning Center and the Center of Congress under construction on the North side.
In a second stage, a rather unusual building, the highest on the campus, may be constructed just up from the Avenue Piccard, which crosses the site from South to North. Dubbed the “Teaching Bridge” by the architect, this structure – subject to the availability of funding – will house several levels of buildings intended for teaching. “As well as giving back life and coherence to what is rather an oddly conceived passage, this new space dedicated to training puts the emphasis on the modern pedagogical forms that our school wishes to promote”, concludes Francis-Luc Perret, who is pleased to note that the architect has integrated in his reasoning a genuine urbanistic reflection “that creates a new dynamic at the heart of the campus”.
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