EPFL houses treasures from Vaud's heritage

Drawings, plans, photographs and models of buildings from more than 200 archival sources are preserved in EPFL's School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC). The Archives of Modern Construction were created in 1988 by Professor Pierre Frey and have never strayed from their original goal: they preserve documents that trace the evolution of the building industry since 1850, for the purpose of both safeguarding them and allowing people to consult them.

It’s a gold mine for researchers and historians. Documents have been added to the Archives over the years by both architectural and engineering firms as well as construction companies. Among these documents we find detailed plans for a country church from 1884, sketches of the dining room at the Hôtel Gibbon in Lausanne from 1903 and an unusual painting of the Vallorbe train station from 1913.

For its preservation work the Archives will receive the Distinction Vaudoise du Patrimoine 2016, an honor awarded by the Vaud chapter of Patrimoine Suisse. In 2010 this award went to the CGN (the main passenger ferry operator on Lake Geneva) and the Association of Friends of the Steamboats of Lake Geneva for restoring the “Belle Epoque” steamboat fleet as well as the steamboat “La Suisse”; in 2012, the Foundation and the Association of the Château de la Roche in Ollon won the award for restoring the castle; and in 2014 the Intercommunal Commission of Lavaux was honored for creating an architectural and landscape guide to Lavaux. The award will be officially presented to the Archives in June 2016 at EPFL.

Researchers, students and industry professionals can access the Archives upon request and use the documents it contains for exhibitions, publications or teaching purposes. The archive catalogue is available here.