Sauvabelin Tower

Tour de Sauvabelin

Basic data

Place:

Lausanne

Canton:

Vaud

Country:

Switzerland

Altitude :

670 m

Coordinates: 46 ° 32 '6.7 " N , 6 ° 38' 18.4" E ; CH1903: 538 613 / 154081

Use:

Observation tower

Accessibility:

Observation tower open to the public

Tower data

Construction time :

2003

Construction costs :	1.19 million CHF
Building material :	Wood

Total height :

35.20 m

Enclosed space :

130 m³

Position map

Tour de Sauvabelin

The Sauvabelin Tower ( French . Sauvabelin Tower ) is an observation tower in Lausanne district Sauvabelin in Switzerland .

Location and view

The Sauvabelin tower stands in the middle of the Sauvabelin forest near the Lac de Sauvabelin above Lausanne . It is 298 meters above Lake Geneva .

There is a panoramic view of the Sallaz / Vennes / Séchaud district and the suburbs of Pully and Lutry to the east; the Lake Geneva , the French Alps and the city of Lausanne to the south; the Bossons / Blécherette district , in particular the Lausanne-Blécherette airport and the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise , the suburbs of Prilly , and Renens to Morges in the west and across the Sauvabelin forest with Lake Sauvabelin in the north to the Jura Chain.

history

As early as the 1980s, EPFL professor Julius Natterer commissioned his students to develop various construction designs. With a motion and an interpellation in 1994 and 1996, city councilor Pierre Payot suggested building the observation tower on top of existing reservoirs so that no trees had to be felled. The project was approved by the city council on July 2, 1996 . The building permit was granted to the client, the Union des sociétés de développement de Lausanne (USDL) on March 12, 1998.

The financing of the construction costs of around 1.19 million francs was largely taken over by sponsors. Everyone could contribute financially by buying stairs; for private individuals it cost 1,000 francs, for companies 3,000 francs. For this purpose, each landing is provided with a plaque from the patron.

The tower was completed on November 29, 2003 and has been freely accessible to the public since December 15, 2003. Access is automatically regulated by a revolving gate and closes in bad weather and after opening times. The maximum number of people is limited to 50 for security reasons.

architecture

The architect of the building is Bernard Bolli from the municipal architecture office. The tower is 35.20 meters high and weighs around 130 tons . Two staircases lead up and down in a spiral. Each staircase has 151 steps. The diameter on the ground is twelve meters, the viewing platform eight meters. Only solid wood from the urban forest was used as building material . Around 141 cubic meters of Douglas fir , 73 cubic meters of fir and 8 cubic meters of larch were processed.