Award ceremony of the competition « Ecological Footbridges »
1st prize - Vincent Digneaux, Solène Guisan and Vincent Kastl © EPFL / LAST / Alain Herzog
The award ceremony of the "Sustainable is beautiful" student competition – which focused on the design of two ecological footbridges linked to the renaturation of the Chamberonne river – took place on November 8. On this occasion, the jury awarded two prizes and two mentions, distinguishing projects that had best succeeded in integrating architectural, landscape, structural, and ecological issues.
This 5th edition was organized by the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST), in collaboration with in collaboration with the Entreprise de correction fluviale (ECF) of the Chamberonne, with the support of the Vaud section of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA). During the ceremony, Mr. Grégory Suter, civil engineer and representative of the ECF Chamberonne, and Prof. Emmanuel Rey, head of the LAST, underlined the mutual interest of this type of collaboration, as well as the quality of the award-winning projects.
For this fifth edition, the task was to design the footbridges of the sustainable mobility network planned to cross the future renaturated river area on the campus of the University of Lausanne (UNIL). One is called "Méridienne footbridge" and the other "Delta footbridge". The architectural approach was aimed at finding the right balance with the resources deployed, mastering the construction processes and creatively using materials with a low environmental impact.
Chaired by Prof. Emmanuel Rey, the jury included representatives from the Canton of Vaud, UNIL, EPFL and SIA Vaud, as well as practitioners from the fields of architecture and civil engineering. The jury had a total amount of CHF 9'000.– to be awarded. At the end of the analysis and evaluation process, the jury decided to award two prizes and two mentions.
First prize, worth CHF 4,000, went to the "Chassé Croisé" project submitted by Vincent Digneaux, Solène Guisan and Vincent Kastl.
Second prize, worth CHF 3,000, went to the "L'oiseau de pierre" project submitted by Iciar Bonnet, Léandre Guy and Mathieu Stutz.
Two mentions, each worth CHF 1’000.–, have been awarded to the “Elévation” project by Thomas Albanesi and Aymen Mosad Radab and to the “La Houle” project by Maxime Duc, Mathias Hersperger, Siméon Pavicevic and Emeline Vilela.
The jury's report, summarizing the entire process of this competition for students, is available here.
