Graeme Mann & Patricia Capua Mann 9783034609494, 9783764388355

Table of contents :
Introduction
Bruno Marchand, "Simple Reflections of Context"
Tony Fretton, "Chinese Tea-houses". An Appreciation of the Buildings of Graeme Mann and Patricia Capua Mann
Graeme Mann and Patricia Capua Mann, "Invent Today for the Past of Tomorrow"
Buildings
Pharmacy Gamma Interior, Lausanne
Egli House, Ollon
Renovation of a Residential Building, Lausanne
Multipurpose Sports Hall, Villaz-St-Pierre
Secondary School Les Tuillières, Gland
Dual Sports Hall, Borex-Crassier
School Centre Le Marais du Billet, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
Renovation of an Apartment, "La Chandoline", Lausanne
Conversion of a Hotel to a Family Home, Celigny
Projects
Vaud Parliament, Place du Château, Lausanne
Library of the City of Vienna, Austria
Cristallina Alpine Hut
Fire Insurance Administrative Offices ECAB, Fribourg
Fribourg Theatre
Retirement and Convalescent Home Le Marronnier, Lutry
Municipal Maintenance Centre, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne
Extension of High School, Nyon
Multipurpose Sports Hall and Secondary School College du Léman, Apples
Appendix
Work Chronology
Biographies of the Architects
Exhibitions, Awards, Bibliography
Credits

Citation preview

Graeme Mann & Patricia Capua Mann

Graeme Mann & Patricia Capua Mann

Birkhäuser Basel • Boston • Berlin

Collection Archigraphy Lémaniques. This collection, which simultaneously covers historical and theoretical fields, pursues the objective of publishing the completed works of contemporary architects, and thus incorporating documentation for the founding of a critical reflection relating to the evolution of architectural practice in Switzerland. Collection Archigraphy Lémaniques is directed by Bruno Marchand.

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Contents Introduction 6 12 16

Bruno Marchand, “Simple Reflections of Context” Tony Fretton, “Chinese Tea-houses”. An Appreciation of the Buildings of Graeme Mann and Patricia Capua Mann Graeme Mann and Patricia Capua Mann, “Invent Today for the Past of Tomorrow”

Buildings 22 26 30 34 50 68 82 98 102

Pharmacy Gamma Interior, Lausanne Egli House, Ollon Renovation of a Residential Building, Lausanne Multipurpose Sports Hall, Villaz-St-Pierre Secondary School Les Tuillières, Gland Dual Sports Hall, Borex-Crassier School Centre Le Marais du Billet, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne Renovation of an Apartment, “La Chandoline”, Lausanne Conversion of a Hotel to a Family Home, Céligny

Projects 112 114 116 118 120 124 126 128 130

Vaud Parliament, Place du Château, Lausanne Library of the City of Vienna, Austria Cristallina Alpine Hut Fire Insurance Administrative Offices ECAB, Fribourg Fribourg Theatre Retirement and Convalescent Home Le Marronnier, Lutry Municipal Maintenance Centre, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne Extension of High School, Nyon Multipurpose Sports Hall and Secondary School Collège du Léman, Apples

Appendix 136 142 143 144

Work Chronology Biographies of the Architects Exhibitions, Awards, Bibliography Credits

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Simple Reflections of Context Bruno Marchand

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“To find within existing elements the answers and tools for the project ; to work on relatively simple volumes and to materialise such project in accordance with a concept respectful of the existing context” : 1 these are, among other considerations, some of the founding principles that mark the architecture of Graeme Mann and Patricia Capua Mann, contained in a description of their philosophy. While the first principle is immediately understandable and reflects an approach of contextual sensitivity which seeks to provide support for the project through the context of the site, the second principle is more complex and difficult to grasp. “To work on relatively simple volumes” : the call for simplicity is a quality recognised by architects such as Le Corbusier, for whom “great art is made of simple means” and “simplicity is a choice, a discrimination, a crystallization having purity itself for object”.2 Frank Lloyd Wright for his part devotes a couple of admirable pages of his autobiography to this very same question, which he considers as particularly demanding because “elimination, therefore, may be just as meaningless as elaboration, perhaps more often is so. To know what to leave out and what to put in ; just where and just how, ah, that is to have been educated in knowledge of simplicity – toward ultimate freedom of expression”.3 While Le Corbusier aspires to formal purity and to the esthetic force of elementary and abstract prisms, Wright, on the other hand, believes that the search for simplicity does not exclude a certain architectural rhetoric in the belief that “expressive changes of surface, emphasis of line and especially textures of material or imaginative pattern, may go to make facts more eloquent – forms more significant”.4 This last statement is fundamental. It keeps us from rushing to assimilate simplicity with “silent” and abstract architectural expression and takes us back to certain aspects in the architecture of Mann & Capua Mann – in particular the very attention with which they express simplicity. But in their case, architectural language is not concentrated solely on its own esthetic reality and on its specific qualities but is charged also with other meanings including a “mirror image” of the physical context in which it is placed. Their architecture contains levels of meaning other than the unique expression of its “own existence” and postulates, in addition, that a simple form can generate complex experiences. This takes us back to Wright, who believed that the secret of simplicity resides in the fact “that we may truly regard nothing at all as simple in itself”.5 In other words, simplicity and complexity are an integral part of the same projectual approach which assigns to the architectural structure other expressive qualities linked to the context. More precisely : “structures which, when materialised, are respectful of the contextual concept”. But what does the term “contextual concept” imply ? To launch a critical interpretation of the context and to concentrate on an abstract representation of its essential components, are these enough to constitute a prerequisite for establishing the project ? Is it at the same time a matter of creating a sort of distance from reality in order to reach “a different vision of reality, sometimes even totally alternative, or at least to produce a sustainable interpretation?” 6 It is legitimate to defend such position, especially since this point of view allows the architects to avoid a “regional” approach and therefore not to endorse an attitude of deference towards forms, materials or local traditions. Indeed, anchored in their respective contexts, their projects and structures are not locked in an unequivocal meaning but rather seek to integrate multiple concept levels intertwined in a coherent fashion : a projectual orientation they will gradually make their own and apply in accordance with the requirements of a series of projects described below.

1 Graeme Mann and Patricia Capua Mann, “Démarche personnelle”, presentation of the firm Mann and Capua Mann, s.d., n.p. 2 Le Corbusier, Precisions on the present state of architecture and city planning (1930), The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, 1991, p. 80. 3 Frank Lloyd Wright, An autobiography (1932), Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1943, p. 144. 4 Ibidem. 5 Ibidem. 6 Vittorio Gregotti, “Architectures du traité” in Pierre-Alain Croset, ed., Pour une école de tendance. Mélanges offerts à Luigi Snozzi, PPUR, Lausanne, 1999, p. 56.

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Preamble : The emergence of contextual sensitivity. Sensitivity to context is nothing new to Graeme Mann and Patricia Capua Mann : it blossomed early during their studies at EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology), notably as part of the program of study taught by Luigi Snozzi. It allowed them “to adopt ethics not only with regard to architecture but also towards the land, the history and our society”. 7 An illustration of the contextual concept is the Egli House (1992 - 1995) in Ollon, one of their first works. An exaltation of geographical conditions, its design is perpendicular to the slope, surrounded by mountain chains and overlooking the Rhône plain. The home opens up towards the view, framing the landscape through horizontal windows looking east and through a large opening across the entire width of the south façade. The slope of the land is contained by walls of reinforced concrete whose primary role is to create terraced surfaces, to retain the ground and to provide for living space – successive platforms which define a zone at the top (a transition between public and private areas contained by a belvedere) and exterior areas of the house below. These containment walls continue inside the domestic space, thus contributing to the distribution of functions and generating a relation between the interior and exterior; made of reinforced concrete, they are no doubt an allusion to the language of Snozzi – to his constant adhesion to the expression of this poured material and to this technique of artisanal construction ; in addition, by analogy, they refer to the vineyard walls already in existence at the site. Through a contemporary and abstract expression, they constitute a link to a context where memory and history intertwine. Admittedly, however, the use of visible reinforced concrete remains limited. Indeed, the architectural language developed gradually by Mann & Capua Mann since they became associates in 1990 is not based on the exclusive use of one material but derives from an experimentation in the various tactile and expressive qualities of a wide range of materials such as metal, aluminium, brick and wood, among others. A large portion of the façades of the Egli home is covered, for example, with larch panels painted in grey ; inside, another type of wood, steamed beech, is used in the design of built-in furniture which “allows to save and better utilise space and to optimise movement between the rooms. Built-in furniture plays a role beyond that of its immediate functionality and is considered as built volume which guides space and light”. 8 This esthetic and spatial role played by furniture is particularly obvious in the interior design of the Gamma Pharmacy (1992 - 1994) on the ground floor of an administrative building in the centre of Lausanne. Indeed, the project aims to intensify the specific proportions of a long and narrow space through the use of concrete columns, by installing a series of decorative elements and of furniture arranged along the orientation of the large window façade used as a display window with regard to the public space. Due to their parallelism, a wooden screen along the window, a sales counter and a wall of shelves behind it constitute an interior design which affords dynamics and a thickness to spaces further enhanced by the attention to detail – such as the crystalline transparency of the glass counter, which welcomes visitors as they enter.

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7 Graeme Mann and Patricia Capua Mann, personal acount in Pierre-Alain Croset, ed., Pour une école de tendance. Mélanges offerts à Luigi Snozzi, p. 229. 8 “Maison familiale à Ollon”, Habitation N° 5, 1996, p. 8. 9 Maison Egli à Ollon,

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The same principle of parallelism underlies the competition project for the Great Council chambers at Lausanne’s Place du Château organized in 1995. In their entry, Mann & Capua Mann testify to their deep understanding of the site and of its spatial characteristics interpreted by them in a coherent fashion : on the one hand, they underscore the fact that the Great Council chambers are not orientated directly on the Place du Château – which led them to propose a similar element, a courtyard across from the new Parliament; on the other, they emphasise the fact that, in this type of situation, the representative buildings are often part of a fabric, which causes them to compose a complex organism made up of parallel structures comprising administrations and institutional functions while creating links with the surrounding environment. The same attention to context is found in the Vienna Library project (1998), an elementary prism based on a square plan which creates, due to its simple geometry and its slightly biased orientation, links between the different public spaces marked by the Otto Wagner subway stations. The transparency of the completely glass-paneled building is contained by vertical slats pivoting over a large portion of the façades while a large square window frames the center of the façade facing the Westbahnhof station. At the Vienna Library, one of the typical plans features a multi-orientated layout. The same design also generates the distribution and spatial organisation of the community floor of the Cristallina alpine hut (2000). Due to its compactness, its “rough and sober” expression, its prismatic volume interrupted by a single-sloped roof and its minimal openings, this structure seems “to be one with the mountain” while giving the impression of force and resistance to the weather. The same force is found in the theatre project for Fribourg (2001), this time in an effort to generate public areas and to create a new rapport between adjacent buildings. Vibrations and metaphors. Several spatial designs and elements of architectural language Mann & Capua Mann experimented with in these entries were to materialise in the new sports hall at Villaz-St-Pierre (2000 - 2002), a landmark work in the fledgling career of the architects. In this project, the quest for a certain architectural simplicity – which does not exclude the search for effects of form – is part of an attempt to give meaning once again to context through the use of no more than a few elements : first of all, by confirming and reinforcing the status of public space adjacent to the building ; then, by borrowing certain elements of local, predominantly rural, architectural language. A wooden box placed on a support gives the impression of fragility in contrast with the solid and robust looks of the church nearby. This impression of fragility is also linked to the unsettling feeling that the box rests largely on horizontal windows which light up the sports hall. It is further accentuated by the play of wooden slats, each with a slightly different incline to convey to the façade a vibration reminiscent of another vibration, that of the air produced by the regular passing of trains in the plain below. But this fragility is only an illusion: in fact, the wooden cladding features a thickness which affords a sort of resistance capable of containing and framing ample space, defined by a wide span and which paradoxically tends to confer the kind of permanence and representation that is typical of public buildings. This thickness also acts as a filter and confers to the structure the impression of evanescence – between transparency and opacity – provided by nocturnal lighting. Finally, it is showcased in the large loggia which frames the landscape, where detail is used differently, where the façade turns in and where a wide window sill serves as protection while the oversized window affords ample views onto the surrounding countryside.

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10 + 11 Multipurpose Sports Hall, Villaz-St-Pierre

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Compactness without apparent rhetoric. In contrast, the Secondery School Les Tuillières (2001 - 2005) in Gland gives the impression of a powerful mass contained in a simple prismatic volume. This impression is further accentuated by the choice of covering materials, i.e. dark-color prefabricated klinker brick panels, which afford the building a unity and homogeneous texture as well as abstract expression. The dominant impression of weight is paradoxically accentuated by the impressive cantilever formed by the three upper floors of the high school. While marking the entrance to the building and defining in space the outside schoolyard, they also confer dynamics to this building solidly anchored in the ground. What dominates here is a feeling of real compactness justified in the dialogue between building and context. Indeed, the high school is part of a residential site made up of housing units built in the 1960s and 1970s in generous green areas – not unlike the concept of an ideal town. One of the primary challenges of the project was therefore to limit land use, thus saving and requalifying these outdoor spaces while proposing an innovative solution: the shared use, at different times during the day and week, of the same extended space, as a playground for the high school and leisure space for the local residents. Minimum land use is obtained as a result of precise compression, superimposing a portion of the teaching facilities over the empty space of the semi-underground sports hall and in the arrangement of classrooms around a central atrium. Once again, the adoption of a multi-orientated plan associated with the principle of staggered sections confers to the interior of the building an unexpected spatial magnitude and a fine luminosity, filtered and softened by skylights and lateral windows which create references and viewpoints. Through its frank and compact expression, this building is anchored in a “site where construction is clean and precise”. The deliberate choice of having an identical type of opening gives initially the feeling of a building without particular rhetoric, the language limited almost exclusively to the repetition of an identical, predominantly horizontal window module. However, a more thorough reading reveals a number of subtleties in the composition of the façade : window-less sections make reference to the plan and, depending on viewpoints, give the impression that the building “revolves” while softening the perception of the angle. However, this very simple façade contains an exception : a loggia orientated towards the green area located in the center of the site. As in Villaz-St-Pierre, the idea is to create a sort of depth where detail is used differently and design is scaled to urban developments located in the periphery of our cities.

Pointillism and evanescence. Compactness is also one of the characteristics of the volumes of the Cheseaux school complex (2004 - 2007), consisting of a school building and a sports hall. These two structures are engaged in a dialogue with the existing municipal administration building and “follow the rules of context-driven siting” while marking the entrance to a tree-lined walkway connecting the village centre to new developments and the countryside. But the feeling of compactness is no longer predominant in this project: the dominant effect is rather that of a “vibration”, a murmur created by vertical slats whose rhythm and sustained pace contrast sharply with a series of large staggered windows.

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12 +13 Secondary School Les Tuillières, Gland

Along the line of previous projects – the school complex at Vers-chez-les-Blanc (2003) and the school building at Villaz-StPierre (2004) – one notices an inflection in the architectural language : the insertion of a duality in the expression of façades between a surface designed as a texture and an architectural element, the window. Due to their proportions and their free position within the façades, however, these large windows allow for multiple interpretations, giving the illusion of a single large window or canvas framing and conveying the landscape ; a play of distance with regard to a unique and frozen perception, further accentuated by the fact that the reference to the village context no longer implies the use of local materials, as evidenced by the vertical slats made of aluminium. Abstraction and illusion almost become a game in the case of the façade of the sports hall at Borex-Crassier (2004 - 2007). In this rational and compact extension of an existing school complex, the architects use impressive multi-trellis wooden beams to support and define the sports area on three sides. Surrounded and protected by façades of glass, these ornamental beams create contrasting plays of light characterised by a vibrant pointillism inside (which in addition confers a decorative role to the wooden beams) and evanescent touches of colour in the outside glass-paneled surfaces. A recent evolution in the treatment of light and of façade coverings has emerged. It hints at other ways of exploration to come, slightly different and perhaps a bit more playful.

Multiple reflections. The particular point of view we have adopted to perform this reading of the architecture by Mann & Capua Mann has brought us to deliberately examine other essential aspects of their approach such as the creation of fluid and dynamic interior space and the framing of views “which direct our vision to an adjacent or more distant environment for the differentiated creation of movement and light”. Because they are recurrent, other points deserve to be mentioned and recalled : the use of a multi-orientated design for arranging interior space, which bears witness to a marked interest on the part of the architects in neo-esthetic dynamics ; as mentioned, the presence of unique loggias which intensify the feeling of texture and surface of façades while governing the rapport with the urban and rural landscape; finally, the development of a complex construction strategy to free the space otherwise occupied by structural supports and to generate certain technical prowess such as wide spans and cantilevers. Such technical prowess, however, does not prompt the architects to adopt a constructive or structural rhetoric. In contrast, their effort focuses on the controlled achievement of measured reservation and, once again, on the search for formal simplicity. This allows them to stay away from any possible formal excesses of esthetic and sculptural exploration. Indeed, for Mann & Capua Mann, one of the most important stakes of their architecture consists of “letting volume speak for itself through its surface”,14 as a simple and multiple reflection of the context in which it is placed.

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14 Hans Kollhoff, “Säntis”, in : Pierre-Alain Croset, op. cit., p. 248. 15 + 16 Dual Sports Hall, Borex-Crassier

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Chinese Tea-houses. An Appreciation of the Buildings of Graeme Mann and Patricia Capua Mann Tony Fretton

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A discussion of architecture in French speaking Switzerland has to take account of its character in comparison with the architecture of the other Swiss regions and the interregional and international influences by which it has been affected. If the architecture of Basle, the Graubunden and Ticino has been propositional and formally assertive, that of the Suisse Romande has tended to be refined and understated. This is a tendency seen not only in works by architects from within the region such as Jean Tschumi’s Nestlé factory at Vevey and Le Corbusiers’s Maison Clarté apartments in Geneva, but in those by architects from without such as Adolph Loos’ Villa Karma and Max Bill’s Theatre in Lausanne. The effect of the school of architecture in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne on the architecture of the region has also to be taken into account. EPFL has always attracted significant creative intellectuals from the Suisse Romande, other regions and internationally to its permanent establishment. Jean Tschumi and J.-M. Lamunière were heads of school. Patrick Berger, Inès Lamunière et Herzog & De Meuron partner Harry Gugger are currently Professors, as was Luigi Snozzi until 1997 and Jacques Gubler, the architectural historian until 1999. In parallel, its program of semester studios by invited professors that was initiated by Pierre von Meiss on his return from the USA in the 1970s, has exposed students to international practitioners such as Kenneth Frampton, Cruz and Ortiz, David Chipperfield, Eduardo Souto do Moura and Alvaro Siza, who taught Patricia Capua in second year. Luigi Snozzi’s diploma studio was run with considerable brilliance and combined generosity, finely tuned criticism and his eminence as a designer and teacher. Graduating with Snozzi was pivotal for Patricia and Graeme, and they recall his famous dictum that the placing a building well in its surroundings was the most important act of design, after which it could be anything, even, he said, a Chinese Tea-house.

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This cultural and educational genealogy has made Mann & Capua Mann responsive both to the locale in which their projects are situated, and knowledge and aesthetics flowing from contemporary architecture in Japan, Britain and Spain as much as in Switzerland. The application of those factors in their work, and in that of the younger generation of architects in the Suisse Romande some of whom they taught while assistants in EPFL, is a gentler and less rhetoricised affair than in other Swiss regions, but one that has led to a significant architectural position. The possibilities of the locale, and the nature and needs of clients and their community are the points from which Mann & Capua Mann proceed, and from which they produce an architecture of visual and social relations. The multipurpose sports hall at Villaz-St-Pierre completed in 2002 sits on a sloping site facing the local church and graveyard on one side and a road and railway track down the hill that run in parallel across the fields. Accommodating sports and social facilities for the village and two other communities nearby, it was commissioned by a panel consisting of a local architect, the builder and two lay people. The building presents a form of similar size and proportions as the church ; its areas for sociability and community use open to a generous loggia overlooking the fields. Excavated into the slope, the gymnasium is located on the floor below, and looks out through a very long window that places the physical activity of people in an associative relationship with the cars and trains below. The interior spaces are arranged so that each is seen first from another, then re-seen in relation to the landscape, existing buildings and infrastructural elements that define the visual and experiential character of the locale. The whole interior is made and lined with timber and is covered with a coffered timber ceiling extending to the perimeter where it is supported on window members. Outside the façades are also of timber, but in contrast to the solid calm of the interiors they are a rain screen of lathes extending over solid and glazed areas, a decision that is perhaps less concerned with the image in photographs and more with an intuition of how the building would look in reality in relation to its surroundings. A secondary school, the Collège des Tuillières, completed in 2005, is located in the suburban village of Gland, on a site characterized by buildings sparsely disposed in large open spaces facing a valley. Here the building is as tough and dark as the Jura Mountains seen in the distance and at ease with the concrete mid-rise and linear apartment buildings around it.

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1 Multipurpose Sports Hall, Villaz-St-Pierre

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2 Secondary School Les Tuillières, Gland

Decisively different from those other buildings, the school has façades of prefabricated brick arrayed with a pattern of uniform windows that allow the interior to be reconfigured over time. Interspersed are blank areas of brick, the figure of a second floor loggia and a deep cut into the form at ground floor level that provides an extensive canopy in front of the main entrance. Between the school and houses behind, a park has been provided as a small compensation for their loss of view. On this side the classroom accommodation starts at first floor, and the windows at ground floor level look down into a basement gymnasium, so that the school does not appropriate the park through eye-to-eye contact. Inside a succession of classrooms extends over three floors around a central, light-filled atrium. Classrooms are all of the same plan and size but arranged so that their long sides look out to all four directions of view to give changing view points for students throughout the day. Entering the light-filled ground level of the atrium from under the deep entrance canopy is an uplifting experience. The interior materials of concrete, warm-coloured veneer and white plaster are finely judged and will take wear while continuing to look well in the abundant light. Despite stylistic similarities to Villaz-St-Pierre, the Collège des Tuillières contains a different set of architectural ideas. Interior colours and spaces are analogous to those in the surroundings, but warmer and more intimate. Light and space that exist to almost too great an extent in the surroundings are delivered in a measured way in the atrium where they can be noticed and enjoyed. Together these arrangements make a place of permanence and calm, modulated by changes in light and view for successive generations of schoolchildren. These qualities place the work of Mann & Capua Mann outside the recent commodification of architecture, into the longer tradition of high-quality general practice, that can be seen in the houses and small public buildings that were the main work of architects such as Rietveld and Aalto, work that came about through attending to the needs of people in their place and locality, while looking outward to the wider international world.

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3 Secondary School Les Tuillières, Gland

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Inventing Today for Tomorrow’s Past Graeme Mann & Patricia Capua Mann

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Innovation and “art de vivre”. Today’s techniques and technologies are subject to rapid change. Fortunately, advances in architecture occur at a much slower pace, primarily when it comes to the use of new construction techniques and technologies but also in terms of the relationship between the art of constructing and materials. The greatest architectural inventions essentially focus on a new definition of the “art de vivre”, on the interpretation of a theme or a programme, on the quest for new spatiality. There is a history of the evolution of techniques but there is also a history of the method in which space is appropriated. The construction of school buildings is a matter of regular debate and constitutes a series of reference points which mark our work. The “art de vivre”, the issues of education in a changing society, have left their marks in the spatial definition of recreational sites and schoolyards expressed today more freely than before. Inside, corridors integrate meeting space, encourage exchange and nurture interaction among the students. Outside, school playgrounds accommodate public parks of multiple usage and thus integrate the lives of students within the social fabric of the community. Sometimes abandoned in the 1970s and 1980s, the notion of “institution” is reintroduced today, in terms of the expression of façades as well as in the definition of recreational and common areas. The duality born of the “institutional” framework and the flexibility of leisure space becomes an integral part of our vision as it pertains to the construction of schools. Our role as architects is to understand that creativity must be part of an architectural continuity if it is to make sense. Architecture must understand the very essence of the sources and links between social realities, then translate them to arrive at a coherence in architectural form and language. In this climate of evolving tradition and form, we feel the need to give meaning to the processes of change in which we inevitably participate. Our responsibility derives from the encouragement to change, from the integration of innovating elements and the recognition of their quality. When it comes to sports halls as well, architectural “inventions” are part of the “art de vivre”. They incorporate the new requirements of sports practice, in particular the creation of large volumes, and take on a social dimension when designed for multiple purposes. The space no longer seeks to address the requirements of sports competitions alone but also offers a new recreational and theatrical dimension. Sports halls become places of “better living” in terms of body and awareness of the body, two aspects which concern the health of everyone and which are understood as complementary to the mere practice of sports. In this process we cannot isolate ourselves from history. Progress follows a historical and social continuity through scenarios of resistance as well as the pursuit of its slow evolution. We should not live with the idea of an exceptional future disconnected from the past but must assume the ambivalence of this reality.

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Expression of structure in space and the “art of constructing”. Taught for many years in schools of architecture, the notion of structure, often referred to as “constructive truth”, requires a new definition today. Following the observation that certain influential architects such as Mies van der Rohe gave priority to the definition of space, our quest turned to the manipulation of constructive and structural elements. The appearance at the Barcelona Pavilion of a new definition of spatial priorities has allowed a novel reading of the structure and testifies to a turning point in the way in which construction is perceived. Today, manipulation offers even greater freedom of choice when it comes to constructive and structural elements: show or not show, show partially, or integrate. In our projects the structure recalls the feeling of an absent presence and fades until it is no longer identifiable. The structure contributes to the definition of an ambiance where space and light alone interact and complement one another within simple volumes. When seeking to make the movements more dynamic, the walls, concrete shear walls and columns create the space based on the choice to show, to show less or to conceal. Accordingly, architecture loses the will and need to reveal the structural and constructive elements in a literal sense, and becomes charged with metaphores and harmony through the innovating play of its components. It is this kind of harmony which transcends us and compels us to blend – through a unique and targeted thinking process – all these elements which contribute to create our architecture.

Architecture and “art of locale”. The “art of locale” may be interpreted in different ways. We use the term “locale” to designate a whole – major or minor – belonging at the same time to the landscape, the territory and the interior of a home. The objective of the “art of locale” is the creation of images and strong sensations whose interaction tells us more about the significant elements of the place and provides for a reading of synthesis. The theme of “art of locale” is one of the key elements of our work. In this context it seems natural to us to refer to the teaching of Luigi Snozzi, one of our professors at the Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne. The territory and its architecture enter into a permanent dialogue and tend to reveal themselves mutually by osmosis, at a time when “everything is one”. The quality of each architectural project depends directly on the intensity of such a dialogue and of the resulting osmosis. In an effort to express our architectural quest in terms of locale, we would like to describe two architectural achievements which moved us deeply. They are two territorial structures which follow the same path of perfection and operate a harmonious symbiosis between territory and construction: the Monte Albán archeological site in Mexico and the Kalmann House designed by Luigi Snozzi in Brione, Ticino.

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1+2 Monte Alban, Mexico

The construction of a platform at the Monte Albán summit, a rocky ridge overlooking the Oaxaca valley, dates back to the 5th century B.C. Built at the top of a hill, the site, home to an important Zapotec city, creates an artificially leveled and flat surface area. The site is made up of a central square and two large platforms which in turn are surrounded by many terraces and palaces. At Monte Albán, our emotions derive from the perfect harmony between the organisation of the locale and the territory. These constructions are located both “on earth” and “under the heavens”, which implies this quest for horizontality. In our daily lives, what is durable derives above all from nature, from the land, while the work of man tends to stay within its temporal limits. At Monte Albán, the work of man blends in with nature. In turn, nature integrates the work of man to make it its own. Here, the work of man has become timeless and durable, a “locale” is born. The Kalmann House is built on a steep slope and integrates vertical features which translate the topography. Following the old traces of a vineyard wall, a small path allows access to the home via a foot bridge over a creek. Totally horizontal, this itinerary takes the visitor to the entrance where a staircase – following the angle of the slope – allows access to the living room. The large window which marks this space allows the landscape to penetrate generously into the home and enables the inside and outside to merge. More to the south, a wall exits the home, coincides with a contour line to follow the terrain, and takes us to a pavilion built at the very end of the site. Here, like on the platforms of Monte Albán, construction invades the landscape to truly showcase the locale. In fact, when he observed the workers who would take a break at this very point, Luigi Snozzi discovered the potential of the locale and therefore integrated it into his project. Irrespective of the difference in scale, these two architectural projects guide us in our reading of the land and our perception of the locale. The notion of “locale” inspires us to create very intense spatial and emotional relations. The recipients of a series of architectural design projects, we have been fortunate enough to build on sites often near Lake Geneva or with unobstructed views of the surrounding countryside. Each of our projects seeks to highlight the environment in which it is located and to select and extract the most powerful features in order to showcase them and to add a new dimension. Our understanding of architecture and the territory as a unique whole allows us to focus our work on notions of sequence, passage and appropriation. The interior and exterior become venues of intense exchange, at the frontier between two worlds which meet and interact with one another. In this context of quest, the cladding of the buildings takes on a particular meaning because it becomes the interface of such an exchange. Treated in different ways depending on the territorial context, it demonstrates a real sensitivity towards the “locale” and takes part in our on-going quest for harmony between man and the land.

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3+4 Kalmann House, Brione

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Buildings

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Pharmacy Gamma Interior, Lausanne. 1992 - 1994. Overlooking Lausanne’s Place de la Riponne and located on the ground floor of an office building designed in the 1960s, the Gamma Pharmacy is part of an elongated and narrow space marked by imposing concrete columns. The particular proportions of this space are reinforced by the construction of a mezzanine which creates a dual-height spatiality. The upper level of the mezzanine, which accommodates a laboratory and an office, organises the ground floor and clearly separates the public area where customers are received and served from the space where access is restricted. Floating in the middle of this space, the customer service area extends over nine meters by alternating sales counters in successive waves. The use of a ground covering made of Boticino stone, found in many public areas of Lausanne, marks the continuity between indoor and outdoor space. The entrance to the pharmacy is marked by a fountain which welcomes the customers. The shelving units placed in the store windows have a dual function: on the one hand they act as a screen and filter the view from the outside, on the other, they serve to display advertising supports and over-the-counter products. The use of steamed beech for the store furniture – with horizontal surfaces in glass and drawers in aluminium – helps create an intimate and discreet atmosphere particularly appropriate for this type of store.

22

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24

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25

Egli House, Ollon. 1992 - 1995. Below the village of Ollon, and perched above the Rhône Valley across from the Dents du Midi mountains, the family home is part of a residential neighbourhood. Perpendicular to the slope unlike all of the adjacent properties, this home benefits from an unobstructed 360° panorama in an exceptional environment. On the upper ground floor, access to the home is via a platform which is on street level. Adjacent to the bedrooms, the entry connects to a vestibule and a staircase for access to the living area on the lower ground floor. On each floor the home benefits from the exterior space and thus integrates perfectly into the site. To reinforce the interaction between interior and exterior, for example, the home’s main rooms are partitioned by the extension of supporting walls and the platform parapets of the entrance, terrace and garden. As a result, the dining room, kitchen and all auxiliary rooms of the lower ground floor are arranged around a large terrace built as an “outside room” and adorned by a beech tree. The metal frames of the supporting structure resting on walls of poured concrete are covered with larch cladding. Inside, the creation of fixed furnishings made of steamed beech allows to define the orientation of each space and regulates the supply of natural light. The spatial function of this customised furniture is reinforced by the uniform treatment of travertine flooring and white plastered walls.

26

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29

Renovation of a Residential Building, Lausanne. 1998 - 1999. Located on Avenue du Temple in the upper part of the city of Lausanne, this five-unit residential complex is sited in a green area. Built in 1954 by architect Orlando Lauti, this urban villa features fine architectural details and the use of rich materials for the interior. Like many other structures built in the 1950s, the exterior reveals significant thermal deficiencies as well as an advanced deterioration of the concrete parts that are visible. The project focused on the physical improvement of the building and on a reinterpretation of its four façades. The window frames on the north side were covered with peripheral rock wool insulation, then coated with mineral cladding, which makes the openings look like mere holes in the wall. To the south, the main façade received a new cladding in translucid glass which contrasts sharply with the brick look of the north part. Adding this exterior membrane allows to ventilate and protect the façade while significantly improving its energy coefficient as well as its sound insulation on its most exposed side. The integration of the old windows defines the horizontal partition of the new façade and confers to the villa an identity in which the old and the new coexist. The construction, solely intended to renovate the façades in order to maintain the interior in its original state, has allowed to provide the building with an immaterial and light expression reflected in the use of materials with opposing characteristics.

30

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33

Multipurpose Sports Hall, Villaz-St-Pierre. 1999 - 2002. The village of Villaz-Saint-Pierre is built on a hilltop facing the Plateau and the Fribourg Alps in a setting of gently rolling hills sometimes shrouded in fog. The new multipurpose sports hall is located below the church and the village square. In reference to the principle of terraced siting typical of this land, the new hall hugs the slope : the upper level constitutes the main access through a foyer while the large hall on the lower level opens up to afford a view of the countryside. The construction of multipurpose sports halls is a recurrent theme in many communities of western Switzerland. By accommodating the practice of sports activities – and therefore by satisfying demands that are more stringent than those of other users – the structure serves an entire community due to its flexibility. The treatment of the façades is expressed by successive layers which reveal the thickness of the cladding through the interaction of transparency. As if to assign these layers to the structure’s different functions, the covering in untreated larch wood extends beyond the base. With planks positioned so as to allow the visitor to see through the cladding, the new structure acquires a strong presence, an identity. Mounted on rack supports, the slope of the planks varies with the height of the view – vertical at the top, then more and more horizontal towards the bottom. This focus on expression underscores the horizontality of the volume while attenuating its volumetric impact. As the facility’s users move about, their journeys are accompanied by magnificent views and plays of light. Upon entering the building, the foyer affords a framed and distant view of the countryside and the Alps, while three meters below, on the level of the hall, this same setting of the landscape nurtures a feeling of proximity to the natural surroundings. As expressed by the foyer’s large opening, certain perspectives are framed with precision while others, such as those of the cemetery and carpark, are filtered to reduce their impact on the visual experience of users inside. The roof structure features a frame of laminated wooden beams with a 2.45 m grid and affords a feeling of ample space to the interior, beyond the perimeter of the hall. The use of one and the same panel cladding of beech plywood helps to integrate and merge all community space. By avoiding the tenet of single use and by betting on values of community and multiple purpose, this new construction manages to integrate an imposing project within a rural environment. In addition, the use of wood has allowed to keep the expression and scale of volume under control through simple means without adversely affecting the public and representative character expected of a multipurpose hall.

34

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Secondary School Les Tuillières, Gland. 2001- 2005. During the 1960s, the planning of four developments in the periphery of the town of Gland was to respond to significant population growth and to the will to preserve the town centre. However, only one of these developments known as “Cité Ouest” and composed of two high-rise towers and slab blocks has been completed. The new Collège des Tuillières is an integral part of this urban environment with an architecture inspired by Le Corbusier’s “Radiant city” and pays tribute to a very clear concept of “non-private appropriation” of the ground on which it is built. The generous presence of a large park-like area in the centre of the site made available to all residents is one of the major highlights of this urban and architectural concept. The integration of the schoolyard in this green space fosters a community function further enriched by the interaction of activities and their coexistence within a single landscaped area. In order to pursue the concept of large structures above public space, all of the project’s elements – classrooms, sports halls, administration and psycho-educational centre – have been combined in one and the same volume. The transparency of the semi-underground sports halls allows to preserve a strong visual link between the street and the schoolyard in the park. The classrooms are located on the three upper levels around a large central hall which regularly extends to the façade. Through the use of cascading voids designed to constitute the visual link between the floors and a multitude of natural light sources, this hall proves to be a coherent design component which unites. The wide spans which define the static of the sports halls are the result of a set of concrete shear walls on the classroom floors. The layout of these shear walls, parallel to the large sides of the volume whose two façades are also supporting structures, makes up the primary structure of the building. The secondary structure and shear walls are ensured by slabs of reinforced concrete. According to the same static system, the three upper levels form a cantilever nine meters deep which protects a portion of the schoolyard from inclement weather and marks the entrance to the building. The use of clinker brick to build the façades reinforces the particular nature of the new school complex while integrating it in the volumetry of the surrounding neighbourhood. The monolithic look of the exterior contrasts sharply with the atmosphere inside marked by the lightness and fluidity of space.

50

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Dual Sports Hall, Borex-Crassier. 2004 - 2007. Borex and Crassier, two villages located at the foot of the Jura mountains and near the city of Nyon, share a school complex located on their border. The particular characteristics of this site derive from its structural fabric made up of a variety of heterogenous buildings - in terms of design and allocation : residential homes, cemetery, cable network station and telephone relay. The expansion of the existing sports hall is the result of a competition and left little margin of freedom because of a limited perimeter. Due to its position, the new extension reinforces the western boundary with the countryside and takes advantage of the break in terrain in order to reduce the impact of volume on the site. The quest for continuity with the existing building dictates the rules in terms of extension volume. The “fusional” approach adopted towards the existing structure allows to define a single entrance for the three sports halls. This new entrance located on the same level as the schoolyard gives direct access to the foyer which, like a balcony, overlooks the new hall. From this foyer, an architectural promenade enables visitors to enjoy changing ambiance, daylight and views as they walk down to the lower level intended for the dressing rooms and sports halls. The lookout on the surrounding countryside through a large opening reinforces the notion of lower level. Showcasing the view, accentuated by the absence of vertical uprights over a length of thirty-two meters, is made possible thanks to a multi-trellis wooden beam six meters high and prefabricated in solid pine wood. The static system of the building derives from the intertwining of these multi-trellis beams. Their composition in three layers of wood of different thickness – a vertical layer flush with the interior cladding to guarantee the beam’s structural resistance, and two diagonal ones – reinforces the effect of transparency. The interior space of these halls is defined on three of its sides by this play of wooden beams and affords a particular atmosphere further enhanced by the play of light which brings the beam’s cane texture to life. These effects are accentuated by the exterior covering, in translucent glass, and the interstitial space, one meter thick, which regulates the inside temperature and the intake of outside air through mechanically controlled louvers. Reinforced by the play of light and the uniform use of materials for its coverings, this structure features abstract aspects which reorganise the site and allow recalcitrant children to daydream during physical education classes.

68

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School Centre Le Marais du Billet, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne. 2004 - 2008. The community of Cheseaux is located north of the city of Lausanne. As is often the case in villages marked by a rural past, the same municipal building houses a number of classrooms and the municipal administration. Built in the heart of the village, slightly off the main street, this building has been preserved and reallocated as a municipal administration building. At the same time, a new school complex was built on the same lot. The site is crossed by a “green alley” which links the main street of the village to a belvedere which looks out onto the Jura mountains. The new school building is turned towards the countryside and is sited, like all buildings nearby, along this lane. The layout of the two gym halls and the school designed as two distinct structures allows the new volumes to integrate into the scale of existing structures and to define the exterior space treated until now in a residual manner. Due to its position adjacent to the school and its regular geometry, the new schoolyard, for example, develops the notion of epicentre which gives it the look of a village square. Protected from automobile traffic, this new “village square” allows to organise major events and to underscore its public function. Covered with metal slats, the façades of the two volumes share a common expression whose dynamics derive from the varying size of their windows. Equipped with much larger windows, the gym halls are reminiscent of “large classrooms”. To confirm the plasticity of the façades, the principal openings are underscored by large frames. The expression of the different layers that make up the façade is reinforced by the two-colour treatment of the metal elements and by the sliding windows positioned behind the façade’s covering. The multi-orientated positioning of the classrooms enables teachers and students alike to enjoy the view in all four directions. To guarantee this multi-orientated effect in the typological organisation, the static structure of the school building is ensured by concrete shear walls in the form of flags superimposed at right angles. With regard to the semiunderground gym halls, this system is reinforced by a grid of concrete columns spread over the periphery of the volume, thus allowing visitors to see to the other side of the building upon entering. By dividing the project into two volumes and by the playful expression of the façades and the “village square” character of the schoolyard, the two new buildings are integrated into the site like pavilions in a “park”.

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Renovation of an Apartment, La Chandoline, Lausanne. 2006 - 2007. Located east of Mon-Repos Park in Lausanne’s Bellevue district, the “La Chandoline” residential building was designed in 1934 by architect Henri-Robert Von der Mühll. Representative of the Modern Movement between the two wars in Lausanne and one of Von der Mühll’s major works, this building comprises eleven apartments and was classified as a historical landmark in 2003 in an effort to preserve its Modern Movement design and typology. The building reflects the principles of an innovative residence which addresses rational and functional considerations of space while accommodating regional or local requirements, i.e. a slope and common garden. The intervention within one of the apartments seeks to carefully preserve the original typology largely characterised by the position of the living room in the centre of the apartment. Renovation is limited to redesigning the bathrooms and kitchen and to building a library. The bathrooms and kitchen share an identical use of materials – polyurethane floor coverings and built-in furniture covered with white Corian synthetic rock – which confers a common identity not unlike that of the other rooms. The large library is built into the wall which separates the living room from the main bathroom and incorporates an aquarium window which plays with the effects of the transparence of water and which replaces a former door. The preservation of this existing opening and the placement of large mirrors combine to enrich the spatial relationship between these two central rooms by creating diagonal views towards the outside, Lake Geneva and the Alps.

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Conversion of a Hotel to a Family Home, Céligny. 2006 - 2008. Located on the shores of Lake Geneva in the village of Céligny near Geneva, the former hotel now converted into a family home benefits from a unique and special environment. Even though its architectural value is of no particular interest, the existing structure has been preserved for the quality of the existing volume and the diversity of its views – to the south on Lake Geneva and the French Alps, to the north on the Jura mountains. Tidying the existing structure helped redefine its relationship with the site and integrate the successive construction phases in order to allow the old and new to blend and merge as a homogeneous, coherent whole. Packed with a layer of peripheral insulation to improve its energy efficiency, then covered with a fine mineral cladding, the structure has radically changed its expression since it was converted. The extra thickness of the new exterior has caused the windows to be recessed further – flush with the inside of the walls – and to frame the views by exaggerating the language of yesterday’s “façades with holes”. The replacement of the old masonry barriers on the terraces by glass elements completes the transformation process of the building. Inside, the preservation of the staircase and supporting wall, typical of the home’s north-south typology, has allowed to play on the functional legacy of the former hotel – living room and bedrooms to the south, kitchen and office to the north – and on the contrasts offered by exceptional panoramic views. The exterior design is reflected in successive terraces towards the lake. By the choice of materials, inspired by the reflection and visual effect of the lake’s surface, it contributes to anchoring the built form in its natural context.

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Projects

111

Vaud Parliament, Place du Château, Lausanne. 1995. The competition for the construction of a new Parliament building for the canton of Vaud proceeded in two phases. The cantonal authorities launched a first competition in 1994 ; then, based on the results, the winning entries were invited to take part in a runup competition in 1997. In spite of evolving constraints and specifications between the two competitions, the siting of the initial project within the urban context was confirmed during the second phase. The land earmarked to accommodate the construction of the new Parliament is located in La Cité, the medieval part of the city of Lausanne. The project proposes to replace the Ancienne Ecole de Chimie building – vacant for the past several years and of lesser architectural value – with the new Parliament structure. Slightly set back from the Place du Château, the new Great Council chambers occupy a discreet position with regard to the former chambers located across the square. The creation of a new semipublic space, the Parliament’s courtyard, defines an “exterior chamber” which helps to outline the positioning of the new facility. The project comprises three distinct parts – the Ministry sited on the Place du Château, the Parliament and the Great Council chambers around a courtyard looking out onto the Alps and the Hermitage hillside, and the courthouse located at the foot of the site and accessible through the rue Couvaloup. The contemporary image conveyed by the new Parliament, the centre of administrative powers of the canton of Vaud, is further enhanced by its location in the very heart of the Old Town of Lausanne, the canton’s capital. With a marked presence in the city, it clarifies the urban fabric with due respect for existing neighbouring structures and a valuable historical context.

112

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113

Library of the City of Vienna, Austria. 1998. Located on the ring road next to a subway station designed by Otto Wagner, the new Library of the city of Vienna provides impetus for an overall urban thinking process. The project for the new library is in the form of a glass cube supported by stilts and is situated above the site’s current focal point without hindering its operations. Due to its orientation and geometry, the cube communicates with the main railway station, the Westbahnhof. This principle of volumetric integration is applied along the entire length of the ring road; the structure is set at a right angle to avoid a direct “confrontation” with existing buildings. Due to its presence and its public activity, the Library attempts to unite the two parts of the city otherwise separated by the ring road day or night. It engages in a process of construction and rehabilitation in this part of the city. The relationship between the interior space of the library’s entrance and the exterior space of the street is perceptible through the effects of transparency and of emptiness upon exiting the subway station. The presence of the new building reorganises and rehabilitates the interface of public transport. With an indoor garden, which becomes the project’s heart and point of reference, the Library confirms its function as a public facility in an urban setting. The detachment of the building from the ground is materialised through the use of façades of pivoting slats and of stilts which allow to neutralise the effects of vibrations and interference caused by the subway below.

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Neubauguertel

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U6 Station Burggasse-Stadthalle Kandlgas se

Burggasse

Burggass e

sse

Neubauguertel

Moerzstrass

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U6 Station Burggasse-Stadthalle

Burggasse

Urban-Loritz-Platz

Gab lenzg asse

Burggasse

sse

Burggasse

Sorbaitga

Kandlgasse

Kandlgasse

Urban-Loritz-Platz

Urban-Loritz-Platz

Urban-Loritz-Platz

Moerzstrass

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Kandlgas

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Huetteldorferstrass

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Neubauguertel Urban-Loritz-Platz

Huetteldorferstrasse

Urban-Loritz -Platz

Neubauguertel

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ertel Neubaugu

e-Stadtha lle

Moerzstrasse

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stra Moerz

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rtel

Neubaugue

rtel Neubaugue

rtel Neubaugue

tz Urban-Loritz-Pla

Burggass U6 Station

tz Urban-Loritz-Pla

+5

+

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+1

Urban

Cristallina Alpine Hut. 1999. Located at an elevation of 2,573 meters on the Cristallina Pass straddling three cantons – Valais, Ticino and Uri – the new hut is like a beacon in this vast expanse of land. Not unlike a rock among many others, the new hut is both part and master of the environment. Overlooking two valleys, the hut of a sober and bare design is located on a natural promontory, near the pass that characterises the site. The site addresses two considerations of scale : the vast expanse of an alpine environment and the expectation of comfort and shelter by those who come across the land. Favouring a vertical organisation in order to reduce its impact on the ground, the project is of a compact design and features four levels. The main entrance is located in the base of the structure and constitutes a transition before entering the common areas above where large windows allow the exceptional scenery to penetrate the public space. On the upper levels, the rooms offer limited views onto the mountains in the background. Due to its location in the land, the hut showcases the landscape – both nearby and distant – and enables visiting mountaineers to find a point of reference, a reassuring intimacy and a place of rest throughout the year.

116

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pulsione d'aria calda d ella cucin a

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117

Fire Insurance Administrative Offices ECAB, Fribourg. 2000. Located within a “hostile” environment in the greater Fribourg region – near a motorway off-ramp and at the heart of a commercial and industrial park – the project attempts to take advantage of the situation by creating an environment of its own. By showcasing the existing vegetation and by requalifying the entire landscaping of the site, the project allows to take visual and physical possession of the lot as a whole and to afford views of the Fribourg Alps. An existing house is preserved and becomes a key component of the site. The spaciousness of the terrace, earmarked to become an esplanade for visitors, is redefined by a series of plane trees. The new building reinforces the presence of this house on the site and modifies its nostalgic image in order to make it more abstract. The existing pond is enlarged and extends to the base of the new building and the meeting rooms. This pond stresses the poetic identity of the site and defines a horizontal reference surface. The cut-out design of the new building benefits from the rapport with the pond and hierarchizes the spatial organization of the interior. Landscaping creates a coherent whole in which perspectives and expressions are as multiple as they are singular.

118

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Fribourg Theatre – 1st Round. 2001. The project’s perimeter proposed during the competition’s first round left the entrants with a choice of three diametrically different sitings in terms of their integration into the urban fabric of Fribourg’s “grandes places”. The siting of the new project completes and clarifies the existing urban structure which is thus rehabilitated as far as its southeastern extremity. The new volume defines the green space of the “Grandes Places” and provides the theatre with the kind of urban visibility commensurate with its function. Due to its position, the theatre enters into a relationship with two other solitary buildings at the site – the hotel and post office – and creates, through a play of triangulation, a strong relationship between the green space of the “Grandes Places” and the Avenue de la Gare. A simplified traffic grid and plane trees planted along the Avenue de la gare further help to integrate the structure into the existing urban environment. The site of the “Grandes Places” thus maintains its character of community square documented as such since the Middle Ages, but also preserves the unobstructed views of the Sarine river, the cathedral and the Alps. The new theatre integrates the surrounding views into the architectural concept of the interior, such as the triple-height foyer. The interior walkways and the bilateral views turn the spectator into a key player who nurtures the site’s identity. The jury chose nine projects from one hundred and fifty entries and imposed a final site for the construction of the theatre, a siting completely different from the initial project as shown in the 2nd Round.

120

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Fribourg Theatre – 2nd Round. 2001. The prescribed site provides the new theatre with the status of a grand structure filling an urban void. In order to pursue a thinking process begun during the first round and which proposed to maintain the space of the “Grandes Places” free of construction, the building proposes to minimise its impact on the ground and to preserve the largest freely available space possible for the city. An elevated theatre liberates the ground and allows to fluidify the exchange between interior and exterior while showcasing the effect of superposition between the functions of the square and of the theatre. Daytime public activities occur on the level of the square directly adjacent to the urban void. A restaurant / lounge and ticket booths allow daytime access by the public at large. On the upper levels, connecting passageways between loges and stage are simple and efficient and benefit from the functional verticality of the structure. With its translucid façades of glass blocks and their effect of transparency, the new theatre offers a live spectacle to the city and its residents while containing it in a setting protected from outside view.

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123

Retirement and Convalescent Home Le Marronnier, Lutry. 2003. The new nursing home for senior citizens is located on the west side of the town of Lutry on the shores of Lake Geneva. The building is parallel to the slope, below the main access road, and faces the lake. This siting allows to clearly define the new hospitality structure with its access ramp revolving around two chestnut trees which gave the institution its name. The old house, the victim of multiple transformations, is to be demolished unlike the decorative garden, which is carefully preserved. Within the small lot, the new building is compact and is composed of two distinct structures linked by a joint section. In addition to a reduced scale of the building, the break between the two volumes allows to frame the view from the roadway and the structures located higher up. Inside, the distribution system conveys a homely look to the two units. The opening of the lounges and dining rooms reinforces their integration into the daily lives of the residents. The modest length of the corridors and the personalised entry of each guestroom help to create attractive meeting areas. The large dining room on the ground floor communicates directly with the existing garden and a shaded terrace with garden and lake views. Of a compact design, the new construction communes with its environment through its openings and volumetry.

124

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parking 10 places

0

125

limite forê

Municipal Maintenance Centre, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne. 2004. The maintenance centre is part of an agricultural area in the countryside to the northwest of the city of Lausanne. Located in the upper part of the site made available by the authorities, the new building is respectful of the environment which surrounds it; it splits up its volume to blend in with the countryside and identifies itself with its surroundings by showcasing the environment in which it is sited. The slight slope of the terrain allows to create and to distinguish two platforms, one destined to accommodate the waste collection station and to future expansion, the other earmarked for the maintenance centre to be built in successive stages. The project has been conceived in a unitary and homogeneous manner in terms of the layout dictated by the topography as well as its expression. Building principles and the use of wooden planks for façade coverings are inspired by palissade construction. Without embracing any notion of camouflage, the project seeks to blend nature and construction.

126

0

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127

limite forê

Extension of Secondary School, Nyon. 2008. The new extension of the secondary school is located on the periphery of the town centre of Nyon, along the Lausanne-Geneva railway. The project is to be built next to the existing school building, a symmetrical structure built in the '80s with a forceful formal architectural expression which does not provide for ready dialogue with a new structure. The architectural limitations imposed by the existing building have prompted the compact design of two classroom structures in a radiating, parklike setting and linked by a lower level containing the common areas: two new structures commune with the surroundings while the existing school structure tends to shut itself off from the outside world. This complementarity reinforces their interdependence. The new project therefore provides for a harmonious coexistence with the existing building and without attempting to compete with it. The two new school buildings are connected to one another and to the old school by a common level around a lower courtyard. This connecting level, located on the lower level, creates an atmosphere which is different from that of the two buildings containing the classrooms. These two structures essentially characterised by their relationship with the exterior feature a uniform use of materials. They also look out onto each other, thus reinforcing their mutual belonging.

128

129

Multipurpose Sports Hall and Secondary School Collège du Léman, Apples. 2005 - 2009. The village of Apples is located at the foot of the Jura mountains, north of the city of Morges. To address today’s strong population growth in the region, a dozen municipalities joined forces to build a new school complex. The Collège du Léman, an extension of the Collège du Plateau, is built on a shelf on otherwise sloped terrain overlooking Lake Geneva, faces the existing building and defines an outdoor space used as playground. The new building comprises two parts aligned in the form of an “L”, one to accommodate classrooms, the other a multipurpose hall. Through the shape of its roof, the new building engages a dialogue with the existing building and, through its location at the entrance to the village, maintains a strong link with the site and its environment. The design of the new school complex is marked by the alternating use of lateral façades crowned by high roofs and pitched façades reminiscent of the typical features of large Vaud farmhouses. Designed with copper cladding and wide windows, the extension stands out from the existing building by the abstract use of materials without denying its allegiance to the new complex. From the playground, the main entrance connects to a walk-through space used both as a foyer for the multipurpose hall and as a dining hall. Inside, the classrooms and corridors benefit from the spatial potential of the inclining roof as well as from the generous supply of natural daylight further amplified as a result of reflection on the white concrete walls. Like the town council chambers located under the eaves of the second floor and orientated by a large window in the direction of the village, the materials and large-sized openings convey an atmosphere of protection and overture to the outside world.

130

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133

Appendix

135

Work Chronology

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1990

1992

1994

1 Housing and offices, “La Blécherette”, Lausanne, competition. Assistant : Etienne Gillabert.

10 Administrative centre for the canton of Vaud, Morges, competition, 4th prize. Assistant : Claude-Alain Van Osselt.

19 UEFA headquarters, Nyon, in association with David Chipperfield, competition. Assistant : Gérard Veciana.

2 Student housing, “Campagne des Cèdres”, Lausanne, competition. Assistant : Etienne Gillabert.

11 Police headquarters, “La Blécherette”, Lausanne, competition. Assistant : Etienne Gillabert.

20 SUVA clinic, Sion, competition, 3rd prize. Assistant : Izumi Darbellay.

12 Pharmacy Gamma Interior, Lausanne, 1992 -1994. Assistant : René Decoppet. Site management : Regtec SA.

1995

3 Parish centre, Place de la Cathédrale, Lausanne, competition, 5th prize. Assistant : Etienne Gillabert. 4 Morges railway station, competition. Assistant : Etienne Gillabert. 5 School centre at “L’Hermitage”, Lausanne, competition, 1st recommendation. Assistant : Etienne Gillabert.

21 Psychiatric clinic, Yverdon-les-Bains, competition. Assistants : Eric Ott, Olivier Maillard.

13 Holiday house extension, Gourze. 14 Pharmacy interior, Zermatt.

22 Vaud Parliament, Place du Château, Lausanne, competition, 9th prize. Assistants : Etienne Gillabert, Olivier Maillard.

15 Egli House, Ollon, 1992 -1995. Assistants : Gérard Veciana, Izumi Darbellay.

23 Thermal clinic, Lavey-les-Bains, competition. Assistant : Katia Ritz. 1991 6 Sports centre, Yverdon-les-Bains, competition, 1st recommendation. Assistant : Etienne Gillabert. 7 School centre and fire station, Monthey, competition, 3rd prize. 8 Greenhouse, Onex.

24 Professional and high school, Morges, competition, 7th prize. Assistant : Christophe Pidoux.

1993 16 Cable-car station, Château d’Oex, competition. Assistants : Gerard Veciana, Eric Ott.

25 Motorway restaurant, Bavois, competition, selected for 2nd round. Assistants : Philippe Béboux, Claude-Alain Van Osselt.

17 Bahnhofplatz Gümligen, competition. Assistant : Gérard Veciana.

26 Refectory for senior secondary school “Le Bugnon”, Lausanne.

18 Two-family house, Pully.

9 Car showroom, Collombey-Muraz.

25

5

5

24

20

21

137

1996

1997

1998

27 Nursing school, Fribourg, competition. Assistant : Michel Duc.

33 Ethnographical museum, Geneva in association with David Chipperfield, competition. Assistant : Michel Duc.

37 Extension of the bank of international settlements, BIS, Basel, competition. Assistants : Michel Duc, Pierre Gumy, Yvan Dupanloup, Frank Herbert.

28 Communal building and housing, St-Sulpice, competition, 5th prize. Assistant : Katia Ritz.

34 Housing at rue Curtat, Lausanne, competition. Assistant : Michel Duc.

29 National highway department maintenance centre, Yverdon-les-Bains, competition, 2nd prize. Assistant : Michel Duc.

35 Primary school and sports hall, Bulle in association with Philippe Bertschy, competition, 5th prize. Assistant : Michel Duc.

30 House extension, Froideville, 1996 -1997.

36 Bakery and coffee bar, Renens, 1997-1998.

38 “Quartier des Grottes”, Geneva, competition. Assistant : Yvan Dupanloup. 39 Library of the city of Vienna (A), competition, 11th prize. Assistant : Jean-Claude Girard.

31 Office interior for Polyval, Lausanne.

40 Secondary school, Pully, competition, selected for 2nd round. Assistant : Jean-Claude Girard.

32 Office interior for Alphacan Somo, Nyon. Assistant : Michel Duc.

41 Private banking reception area, UBS, Lausanne, 1998 -1999. 42 House in Bremblens. 43 Mobile telephone shops, Telecom 1, Paris. 44 Renovation of a residential building, Lausanne. 1998 -1999.

43

38

70 44

36

35 06

42

138

42

1999

2000

2001

45 Jardins 2000, Lausanne, in association with Claude Augsburger, colourist, François Trachta, landscape architect and Jean-Daniel Berset, civil engineer, competition, 1st prize, 1999-2000. Assistant : Fred Hatt.

54 Observatory of religions, maison des Cèdres, Lausanne. Assistant : Sandra Leitao.

62 Secondary school “Les Tuillières”, Gland, competition, 1st prize, 2001- 2005. Assistants : Dominik Riser, Mojca Zavodnik, Véronique Favre, Philippe Steiner, Sara Gerber, Davide Cisternino, Robert Krasser. Site management : Regtec SA. Engineering : AIC ingénieurs conseils SA, Arteco SA.

46 Housing at Corpataux-Magnedens, competition. Assistant : Fred Hatt. 47 School extension, Farvagny, competition. Assistant : Fred Hatt. 48 Multipurpose sports hall, Villaz-St-Pierre for the communes of Lussy, Villarimboud and Villaz-St.-Pierre, competition, 1st prize, 1999 - 2002. Assistants : Sandra Leitao, Mojca Zavodnik, François Eugster, Fred Hatt. Site management : Regtec SA. Engineering : Boss ingénieurs conseils SA, Etec SA. 49 Lakeside landscaping, Yverdon-les-Bains, competition, 3rd prize. Assistant : James Payne. 50 Primary school “Tombay II”, Bussigny, competition, 8th prize. Assistant : James Payne.

55 Educational centre “Chartem”, Lausanne, competition, selected for 2nd round. Assistants : Sandra Leitao, James Payne. 56 Communal centre, Cugy, competition. Assistant : James Payne.

63 Conversion of a hospital to a medical home, Moudon, competition. Assistants : Nicole Bühler, Davide Cisternino.

57 Primary school, Villars-sur-Ollon, competition. Assistant : James Payne.

64 Conversion of the reception area, Nestlé Suisse, Vevey, competition.

58 Chalet Bluche. Assistant : Véronique Favre.

65 Fribourg theatre in association with Tekhne SA, competition. Selected for 2nd round. Assistant : Véronique Favre.

59 Extension of the communal hall, Commugny, competition. Assistant : Véronique Favre. 60 Fire insurance administrative offices ECAB, Fribourg, competition, 2nd prize. Assistant : Véronique Favre.

2002 66 School and sports centre, Blonay, competition, 2nd prize. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

61 Nespresso factory, Orbe, competition. Assistant : Véronique Favre.

67 Extension of the Olympic stadium, Lausanne, competition, 5th prize. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

51 National highway department maintenance centre, Bursins, competition. Assistant : James Payne.

68 Multipurpose sports hall, La Brillaz, competition. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

52 Primary school “La Maladière”, Neuchâtel, competition. Assistants : Sandra Leitao, James Payne. 53 Cristallina alpine hut, competition, 4th prize. Assistant : James Payne.

54

45

68

61

139

2003

2004

69 School centre “La Seymaz”, Geneva, competition. Assistants : Mojca Zavodnik, Korbinian Schneider.

76 Community hall, Grandson, competition, 2nd prize. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

70 Retirement and convalescent home “Le Marronnier”, Lutry, competition, 2nd prize. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

77 Municipal maintenance centre, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, competition. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

71 Extension of the World Trade Organisation WTO, Geneva, competition, selected for 2nd round. Assistants : Mojca Zavodnik, Korbinian Schneider, Robert Krasser.

78 Primary school, Villaz-St.-Pierre, competition. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

72 Community hall, Corpataux-Magnedens, competition. Assistants : Mojca Zavodnik, Daniela Lappi. 73 Retirement and convalescent home “Clair-Vully”, Salavaux, competition, 3rd prize. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

79 Beaux-Arts museum, Lausanne, in association with Tekhne SA, competition. Assistants : Mojca Zavodnik, Korbinian Schneider. 80 Retirement and convalescent home “Bois-Gentil”, Lausanne, competition, 2nd prize. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

84 School centre “Le Marais du Billet”, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, in association with Tekhne SA, competition, 1st prize, 2004 - 2008. Assistants : Dominik Riser, Sara Gerber, Jean-Michael Taillebois. Engineering : AIC ingénieurs conseils S.A., Arteco SA. Landscape architect : L’atelier du paysage, Jean-Yves Le Baron. 85 Urban plan for “Le Marais du Billet”, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, in association with Tekhne SA, competition, 1st prize. Assistant : Sara Gerber. 86 Retirement and convalescent home “La Girarde”, Epalinges, competition. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik. 87 Retirement and convalescent home “Mont-Riant”, Yverdon-les-Bains, competition. Assistant : Mojca Zavodnik.

81 Administration building for the Nestlé research centre, Vers-chez-les-Blancs, competition. Assistant : Andreas Buchmann.

74 School centre, Vers-chez-les-Blancs, competition, 2nd prize. Assistants : Mojca Zavodnik, Daniela Lappi. 75 Professional school, Fribourg, competition. Assistants : Mojca Zavodnik, Korbinian Schneider.

82 Dual sports hall, Borex-Crassier, competition, 1st prize, 2004 - 2007. Assistant : Rodrigo del Canto. Site management : Regtec SA. Engineering : AIC ingénieurs conseils SA, Arteco SA. 83 Rehabilitation of the town centre, Sierre, competition. Assistant : Antoine Carel.

71

74

76 71

80

76

140

2005

2006

2007

88 School centre, Préverenges, competition. Assistant : Sara Gerber.

90 Renovation of an apartment, “La Chandoline”, Lausanne, 2006 - 2007. Assistant : Jean-Michael Taillebois.

93 Medical home, Sion, competition, 3rd prize. Assistants : Tong Cui, Jean-Michael Taillebois.

89 Multipurpose sports hall and secondary school “Collège du Léman”, Apples, in association with Tekhne SA, competition, 1st prize, 2005 - 2009. Assistants : Dominik Riser, Sara Gerber, Jean-Michael Taillebois. Engineering : AIC ingénieurs conseils SA, Arteco SA.

91 Sports hall, Mont-sur-Rolle, concours. Assistant : Sara Gerber.

94 Extension of a watch factory, Vallée de Joux, competition, 1st prize. Assistant : Barbara Queloz.

92 Conversion of a hotel to a family home, Céligny, 2006 - 2008. Assistants : Helene Zach, Barbara Queloz. Site management : Regtec SA. Landscape architect : L’atelier du paysage, Jean-Yves Le Baron.

95 Extension of high school, Nyon, in association with Tekhne SA, competition, 5th prize. Assistants : Barbara Queloz, Christophe Mattar, Tong Cui, Jean-Michael Taillebois. 96 Sports hall, Morrens, concours. Assistants : Christophe Mattar, Tong Cui.

2008 97 Urban planning “Sous-Géronde” in Sierre Competition, 1er prix. Assistants: Thomas Wegener, Barbara Quéloz 98 Student Housing FMEL in Yverdon-les-Bains Assistant: Thomas Wegener

94

94

79

96

79

96

141

Biographies

Graeme Mann

Patricia Capua Mann

Graeme Mann is of British nationality. Born in Dundee in 1960, he grew up in Scotland until the age of 11. In 1971, he arrived with his family in Switzerland.

Patricia Capua Mann is of Italian origin and of Swiss nationality. She was born in Lausanne in1960, and grew up in Switzerland.

He studied architecture at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and obtained his diploma in 1987 with Professor Luigi Snozzi and the experts Vincent Mangeat and Aurelio Galfetti.

She studied architecture at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and obtained her diploma in 1987 with Professor Luigi Snozzi and the experts Vincent Mangeat and Aurelio Galfetti.

During his studies, he went in practice for two years. He worked one year with Vincent Mangeat in Nyon, then another year with Richard Rogers and Eva Jiricna in London.

During her studies, she went in practice for two years with Luigi Blau in Vienna.

After three years collaborating with Vincent Mangeat, Graeme Mann opened an architectural practice with Patricia Capua Mann in 1990.

After two years collaborating with Vincent Mangeat, Patricia Capua Mann opened an architectural practice with Graeme Mann in 1990.

Teaching Teaching Since 1990, Graeme Mann taught for four years at the EPFL in the workshop of Professor Alin Décoppet, then taught with visiting Professors David Chipperfield, Martin and Lise Boesch, Tony Fretton, Alberto Campo Baeza, and Elia Zenghelis until1997. Graeme Mann was appointed visiting Professor at the EPFL in 2006 - 2007 with Patricia Capua Mann.

Since 1989, Patricia Capua Mann taught for four years at the EPFL in the Institute of building technology (ITB) with Professor Pierre-Alain Tschumi. She also taught in the workshop of Professor Frédéric Aubry, then of Professor Vincent Mangeat until 1997. Patricia Capua Mann was appointed lecturer at the Ecole Technique de Lausanne (ETML) from 1997 to 2002. Patricia Capua Mann was appointed visiting Professor at the EPFL in 2006 - 2007 with Graeme Mann.

Forum d’architectures Lausanne Patricia Capua Mann was co-founder of the Forum d’Architectures of Lausanne created in September 2000 and was president from 2000 to 2005.

142

Exhibitions

Bibliography

2007 Kornhaus at Bern. Distinction “bois 21” Dual sports hall, Borex-Crassier.

Yves Dreier, «A vos marques, prêt, partez !», Werk, bauen + wohnen, N° 4, 2008, pp. 54 - 55.

Paule Potterat, «Architecture avec vue», Femina, N° 19, 1997, pp. 48 - 51.

Charles von Büren. «Nouveaux horizons - Pool d’idées bois 21 2005 - 2006 - 2007», 2007, pp. 24 - 25.

«Graeme Mann & Patricia Capua Mann», archimade N° 56, 1997, pp. 55 - 56.

Temas de arquitectura, arquitectura escolar N° 5, 2006, pp. 30 - 40.

«Concours de l’agrandissement du centre d’exploitation RN à Yverdon-les-Bains», Aktuelle Wettbewerbs Scene, N° 2, 1997, pp. 33 - 35.

Forum d’architectures de Lausanne. 2006 Distinction Romande d’architecture. Multipurpose sports hall, Villaz-St.-Pierre. “Carte blanche” : exhibition of four buildings. 2005 Collective exhibition of competitions for 12 retirement and convalescent homes. 2004 Three projects : Lutry, Lausanne and Salavaux. Collective exhibition “FACES 54”. Multipurpose sports hall, Villaz-St.-Pierre. 1998 Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Six frames, six projects. 1998 Architecture museum Basel. Competition for the bank of international settlements, BIS. 1996 Messe Basel. Bourse fédérale des Beaux-Arts. Pharmacy Gamma, Egli house.

Awards 2006 Distinction “bois 21” Dual sports hall, Borex-Crassier. 2006 Distinction romande d’architecture Multipurpose sports hall, Villaz-St.-Pierre, selection. 2000 Distinction “Bois 2000” Pont-bisse, Lausanne jardin. 1996 Selection at the “Bourse Fédérale des Beaux-arts” Pharmacy Gamma and Egli house. 1996 Distinction vaudoise d’architecture Pharmacy Gamma, Lausanne.

Mark Dudek, «Ecoles et jardins d’enfants», Infolio, Gollion, 2007, pp. 210 - 213. Mark Dudek, «Schools and Kindergartens», Birkhäuser, Basel, 2007, pp. 210 - 213. «Collège des Tuillières à Gland», as (architecture suisse), N° 163, 2006, pp. 21 - 24.

«Concours de bâtiments communaux à St-Suplice», Aktuelle Wettbewerbs Scene, N° 1, 1997, pp. 35. Alexandra Rihs, Carrières de femmes - Passion d’ingénieures, PPUR, Lausanne, 1998, pp. 46 - 55. «Maison Egli à Ollon», as (architecture suisse), N° 126, 1997, pp. 1- 4.

«Intégration douce», Idea, N° 2, 2007, pp. 40 - 42. «En visite», recueil des visites SIA VD 2001 - 2005, salle de sport polyvalente à Villaz-St-Pierre et collège des Tuillières à Gland, 2005, N° 26 et 41. «Une salle polyvalente», Séquence bois, N° 53, 2005, pp. 6 - 7.

«Maison familiale à Ollon», Habitation, N° 5, 1996, p. 8. «Portraits d’architecture vaudoise», 1992 - 95, Pharmacie Gamma à Lausanne, 1996, pp. 93 - 94. «Concours du centre d’enseignement CESS et CEP à Morges», Aktuelle Wettbewerbs Scene, N° 6, 1996. pp. 39.

Bruno Marchand, “Architecture romande” «Salle de sport polyvalente à Villaz-St-Pierre», Faces N° 54, 2004, pp. 32 - 33.

«Place du Château à Lausanne», Aktuelle Wettbewerbs Scene, N° 4/5, 1995, p. 24.

Inge Beckel, Gisela Vollmer, Terraingewinn, eFeF verlag, Wettingen, 2004, pp. 92 - 93.

«Aménagement d’une pharmacie et de ses laboratoires», as (architecture suisse), N° 118, 1995, pp. 29 - 32.

«Salle de sport polyvalente à Villaz-St-Pierre» as, (architecture suisse), 2003, N° 149, pp. 21 - 24.

«Concours pour la clinique de réadaptation CNA à Sion», Aktuelle Wettbewerbs Scene, N° 6, 1994, pp. 12 -13.

Evelyn Carola Frisch, «Salle de sport polyvalente intercommunale, Villaz-St-Pierre», Bulletin du bois, N° 64, 2002, pp. 1092 - 1095.

«Concours pour la clinique de réadaptation CNA à Sion», Schweizer Ingenieur und Architekt, N° 39, 1994, p. 780

«Concours du stade olympique de la Pontaise à Lausanne», Hochparterre Wettbewerbe, N° 5, 2002, pp. 74.

«Concours d’un bâtiment de l’administration cantonale BAC à Morges», Aktuelle Wettbewerbs Scene, N° 3, 1993, pp. 13 - 15.

«Concours du collège secondaire des Tuillières à Gland», Tracés, N° 5, 2002, pp. 24 - 25. «Concours pour le nouveau siège administratif de l’assurance ECAB à Granges-Paccot», IAS, Ingénieurs et architectes suisses N° 6, 2001, p. 87. «Concours du collège du Tombay II à Bussigny-près-Lausanne», Aktuelle Wettbewerbs Scene, N° 1, 2000, p. 81. «Jardins 2000», IAS, Ingénieurs et architectes suisses, N° 5, 2000, p. 88. «Lausanne jardins 2000, concours d’idées, pont-bisse», anthos, N° 2, 1999, pp. 60 - 61. «Maison Egli à Ollon», Idea, N° 1, 1999, pp. 66 - 68. Laure Kelly, «La grandeur dans la simplicité» Maison et Ambiance, N° 2, 1998, pp. 10 -19. Laure Kelly, «Sinnliche Einfachheit» Raum und wohnen, N° 12, 1997, pp. 58 - 69.

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Bruno Marchand

Credits

Library of Congress Control Number : 2008930394

Bruno Marchand was born in 1955. He studied architecture at the EPFL and graduated in 1980. He obtained his doctorate at the EPFL in 1992.

Photographs :

Bibliographic information published by the German National Library The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

On 1st August 1997, he was appointed Professor of the Theory of Architecture and he became Director of the Theory and History of Architecture Laboratory 2 in 1999. From 2001 onwards he has been one of the associates of the town planning consultants DeLaMa together with Patrick Devanthéry and Inès Lamunière. Since 1st April 2006, he is at the head of the Institute of Architecture, ENAC Faculty.

Tony Fretton Tony Fretton was born in 1945. After graduating from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London he worked at Arup Associates, then founded Tony Fretton Architects in 1982. Teaching posts include Unit Master at the AA School from 1988 - 1992 and visiting Professor at the Berlage Institute Amsterdam and the EPFL in 1994 - 1996. Since 1999 he has been Professor of Architectural Design and Interiors at the TU Delft, the Netherlands, and he taught a semester at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard, Cambridge MA, USA, in Spring 2005.

For all photographs © Thomas Jantscher Except : © Sylvie Margot Pharmacy Gamma Interior, Lausanne © Geog Aerni Egli House, Ollon © Corinne Cuendet Multipurpose Sports Hall, Villaz-St-Pierre, pp. 43, 47, 48 and 49 © Luigi Snozzi maison Kalmann, p. 19 © DGBP/Photographie portraits p. 142 © Mann & Capua Mann, Monte Alban, p. 18 Adapted from French into English : Access communication, Armand A. Deuvaert, Grandvaux, Switzerland Graphic Design : Sandra Binder, Lausanne, Switzerland Critical reading of original text: Yves Dreier Drawings : Tong Cui and Christophe Mattar Model builder: Yves Gigon, Rolle, Switzerland

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data bases. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained.

© 2008 Birkhäuser Verlag AG Basel • Boston • Berlin P.O. Box 133, CH - 4010 Basel, Switzerland Part of Springer Science+Business Media

This book is also available in the original French language edition at Infolio Publishers, Gollion, Switzerland. (ISBN 978-2-88474-452-2) Printed on acid-free paper produced from chlorine-free pulp. TCF Printed in Switzerland ISBN : 978-3-7643-8835-5 987654321

Computer images: Serge Caill, Bex, Switzerland

www.birkhauser.ch

Tony Fretton was awarded an honorary degree at Oxford Brookes University in 2006 and is considered as one of the most influent British architects of the last twenty years.

We thank our sponsors : Tekhne SA, CH - Lausanne Regtec SA, CH - Lausanne Acomet SA, CH - Colombey Heglas Bulle SA, CH - Bulle Foamglas Pittsburgh Corning (Switzerland) SA, CH - Lonay Maurice Beaud Fils Constructions SA, CH - Albeuve Eternit (Switzerland) AG, CH - Niederurnen

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