Combining design, architecture and digital technologies
News feeds from EPFL, UNIL and CHUV scroll on the ground and the walls.
Enter the Metro in Epalinges and from now on you are engaging not just with the physical reality of the city, but also with the knowledge it produces. The new Vaudoise Insurance agency hosts an interactive area known as the "Porte des Savoirs" (gateway to knowledge), where the latest news from the CHUV (University Hospital of Lausanne), UNIL (University of Lausanne), EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne) and ECAL (University of Art and Design Lausanne) is displayed.
The mission of the EPFL+ECAL Lab, a unit of Lausanne's Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, is to explore the potential of emerging technologies through design. Some of its recent achievements are being featured in exhibitions abroad: last summer, the Seeds of Colors installation for the Melissa Showroom In New York; in the near future, the Sous Pression exhibition for the Musée des arts décoratifs in Paris. Vaudoise Insurance decided to set the Lab a challenge for the Lausanne urban area, or more precisely for its new agency in Epalinges. At a time when everything digital is all the rage, how is the relationship between an insurance agency and the general population to be redefined? What role can the agency play in the urban fabric? The challenge applies not only to one particular agency; it raises the fundamental question of how the information society can avoid creating a dematerialized, dehumanized lifestyle and instead reconnect with the concrete realities of daily life. Vaudoise Insurance has allowed EPFL+ECAL Lab great freedom to experiment in this project, which also involves the Atelier de la conception de l’Espace (ALICE ). The two organizations are hardly beginners in this area, having been awarded a Swiss design prize last November for their work in designing the Montreux Jazz Heritage Lab.
The agency's physical location has been a determining factor in their thinking: it stands beside the Metro departure point for Lausanne's university institutions, in the heart of Biopôle, a vast complex devoted to medical research and new technologies. The fact is that an insurance company's mission is not only to cover risks, but to support people in the key decisions of life, to help them to plan, to look ahead. It must necessarily be immersed in the knowledge produced by society and help to disseminate this knowledge.
Digital, architectural and human
The Porte des Savoirs installation is an embodiment of this objective. A system of screens and mirrors amplifies the agency space so that it is possible to display the principal new developments at EPFL, the University of Lausanne, CHUV and ECAL. The information flows at different speeds, like Metro trains, on a floor consisting of more than 18,000 LEDs, made by UTRAM, the project's official supplier. Reflections on the ceiling and in the mirrors enables people to view these information flows from outside the agency. As visitors enter, there is a change in perspective: they now see the texts right in front of them, conveying more detailed content. And they can then access even more in-depth information by using the agency's interactive tables, developed by the Lausanne-based company Atracsys, as well as interacting with Vaudoise Insurance services. These arrangements, taken as a whole, foster dialogue and create social connections between visitors and with the agency's advisors, who are always on hand to assist.
The purpose of the system, which is both informative and good fun, is in fact to encourage discussion and sharing. It also gains from the transparency which is a key aspect of the building, especially in terms of free circulation. This deliberate openness, based on the indoor-outdoor lighting effects, overturns the negative image that often dogs the service industry. The agency has redefined its role, becoming an actor in public space.
Risk management, planning, innovation
"The Porte des Savoirs is an embodiment of Vaudoise Insurance's triple commitment to innovation, architecture and culture", says Philippe Hebeisen, the company's Chief Executive. Back in 1956, Vaudoise Insurance made a big impact on the townscape of French-speaking Switzerland with its Jean Tschumi-designed building on the Avenue de Milan, now regarded as a cultural asset of national importance. This building regularly provides a setting for the work of artists and designers. Vaudoise's commitment to innovation was recently exemplified once again at the Comptoir Suisse by the Vaud Futur cube, which it sponsored. Innovation it is one of the primary concerns of an insurance company: guarding against risks, providing support in making vital decisions requires the ability to look into the future. And consequently to be involved in taking up the new challenges presented by our society.
The Porte des Savoirs will be operational from 13 March 2014. It will function in different modes, depending very much on the agency's opening hours. Given its experimental character, it is likely to develop and change in the course of the year in response to feedback from the public.
