Located on the campus of Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Kengo Kuma’s ArtLab is an elegant, low sliver of a building, overlooking Lake Geneva and the Alps beyond. Making a strong urban as well as architectural statement, its linear form slices across the landscape, asserting the humanities’ newfound role at this historically technical university.
ArtLab is the latest addition to the school’s growing collection of high-profile buildings—SANAA’s Rolex Learning Center (RECORD, June 2010, page 156) and Dominique Perrault’s New Mechanics Hall (2016) are both nearby. This project began with an international competition held in 2012. The brief called for three pavilions, containing a café, an art gallery, and an exhibition space. Taking a gamble, Kuma proposed a single, 33,000-square-foot structure instead. This strategy not only combined all three components under one roof, it also helped organize the school’s chaotic campus. “There are many interesting buildings here, but they had no order,” the architect says.
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