Book launch at the Forum d'architectures of Lausanne

Between the city and the countryside, the urban periphery is a specific challenge in the context of transition. Far from the densification dynamics underway in central areas, it nevertheless represents a significant part of the built environment and is thus an essential component of the changing territories.

In this context, some peri-urban sites offer opportunities to think about new types of sustainable neighborhoods, complementing the experiments currently being conducted in locations closer to the city center. This is especially the case for those that are close to public transport and simultaneously have some regeneration potential.

The book LIVING PERIPHERY gathers the results of recent teaching and research work carried out by the LAST on this theme. The approach is based more specifically on nine project-based visions imagined in the immediate vicinity of the Bercher railway station, the terminus of the historic Lausanne-Echallens-Bercher line (LEB).

In addition to the four books gathered here, the TRANSFORMATIONS boxed set includes an eponymous booklet with an essay of Prof. Emmanuel Rey on the role of the architectural design in the transition of urban territories as well as various testimonies of actors who participated in the process.

The event was an opportunity to discover these multiple publications, but also to hear an intervention by Prof. Bruno Marchand taking a look at the works presented. He emphasized both their prospective dimension regarding the future challenges of our built environment and their resonance with the history of architecture, referring in particular to the workshop of Le Corbusier's "recherche patiente" and the possibility of a transformation of the territory through architecture as thematized by Luigi Snozzi.