Auditorium of the Lausanne Polytechnic
The auditorium of the Polytechnic University of Lausanne ( EPFL in Lausanne ), built 1961–62, was planned by Jean Tschumi as the architect and François Panchaud as the engineer.
Building description
Next to the former main building of the Lausanne University, the auditorium rises above a terrace-like base. A mighty roof, designed as a shell construction , is spanned by the ring anchor, which is rectangular in plan. It covers an area of almost 1800 m². The indented glass facade underneath forms the actual building cube in which the lecture hall is set freely in the middle. This lecture hall consists of two oval half-cylinders placed one inside the other, with a passage from the mountain-side to the lake-side foyer on its sides.
Planning and construction history
The auditorium marks the beginning of the third expansion of the Cantonal University of Vaud in Lausanne, which later became the Federal University. Tschumi, who was the head of the architecture department and also founding professor of the college established in 1943, was commissioned directly in 1958 based on a study draft. Initially, the sketches showed designs with net-like roofs, until Tschumi found the solution in August 1958 with the roof opening far north and south: it defined the base, the functional body and the roof stretched over it.
The ambitious construction of the shell from 1961, which Panchaud found using experimental statics, put the commissioned company Martinelli SA to the extreme; Defects in the concrete, which was difficult to pour over the falsework, occurred as well as protruding clamps and prestressed concrete reinforcements. The inauguration took place in 1962, and the building was extensively renovated by Lamunière and Devanthéry in 1995.
literature
- Christa Zeller: Swiss architecture guide; Volume 3: Western Switzerland, Valais, Ticino. Zurich: Werk Verlag 1996. ISBN 3-909145-13-2
- Joëlle Neuenschwander Feil: Aula de l'EPFL - Restoration of Bétons. Summarized in: Faces: journal d'architectures. No. 39 Geneva, Ecole d'Architecture de l'Université de Genève 1996 ISSN 0258-6800