© Kengo Kuma & Associates . Published on October 13, 2012.

1: CREATE A SHELTERED PATH… connecting the Esplanade with the Rampe Liason Sud (student housing) that will become a main flows within the campus.

© Holzer Kobler Architekturen . Published on October 13, 2012.

2: TAPER THE VOLUME… keeping the great view from the esplanade towards the lake, getting closer to the Rampe Liason Sud; and maintaining the existing trees along the street Allée de Savoie.

© Kengo Kuma & Associates . Published on October 13, 2012.

3: PROVIDE PERMEABILITY… openning passages aligned with the pedestrian Rte. J.D.Colladon towards the parking; allowing vehicular access to the Rolex Center underground parking and loading.

© Holzer Kobler Architekturen . Published on October 13, 2012.

ENHANCING THE SITE: all the way down to the Rampe Liason Sud and the student housing on the other side of Route du Lac. Students and visitors will walk this path, some of them even several times per day, being exposed to the activities, exhibitions and events happening everyday inside the Montreux Jazz Lab, the Pavilion Welkom, and the Pavilion Cultural et Artistique. With the new presence of the Rolex Center and the current increase of capacity of the Students’ Residential area on the South, the North-South path going through the Place Cosandey all the way to the M1 Line Station is becoming one of the main pedestrian flows throughout the EPFL Campus. We propose a building that will provide walking shelter and an animated façade to enjoy this (almost half kilometer long) walk from the esplanade

© Holzer Kobler Architekturen . Published on October 13, 2012.

A STONE ROOF AS IDENTITY: This nearly 260m roof gives us the possibility to construct an abstract metaphore of the swiss vernacular stone roofscape. This stone gable roofscape belongs to the identity and collective imaginary. By using the Lauze stone in its traditional fashion and extending the typical gable roof section all the way to an exaggeration, we aim to provoke thoughts and discussion on tradition/innovation, past/ future, and identity/progress… dichotomies that play an essential role not only in Architecture but in any discipline involving research developed in universities such as the EPFL. The unexpected dramatic folds applied to this long gable roof emphasize the attitude of departing from traditional elements towards the aim of a new challenge: to rethink the current identity into an expression of contemporaneity.

© Holzer Kobler Architekturen . Published on October 13, 2012.

© Holzer Kobler Architekturen . Published on October 13, 2012.