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Rolex Learning Center by SANAA, Lausanne, Switzerland

Video is made by the Proudfoot Company

The Rolex Learning Center, a university and study centre is designed by the acclaimed Japanese firm SANAA. The centre is located on the campus of science and technology university EPFL in Switzerland (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), and is open to both students and the public.

The Rolex Learning Center will function as a laboratory for learning, a library with 500,000 volumes and an international cultural hub for EPFL, open to both students and the public. Spread over one single fluid space of 20,000 sq metres, it provides a seamless network of services, libraries, information gathering, social spaces, spaces to study, restaurants, cafes and beautiful outdoor spaces.

It is a highly innovative building, with gentle slopes and terraces, undulating around a series of internal ‘patios’, with almost invisible supports for its complex curving roof, which required completely new methods of construction.

The building is rectangular in plan, but appears to be more organic in shape because of the way that its roof and floor undulate gently, always in parallel. With few visible supports, the building touches the ground lightly, leaving an expanse of open space beneath which draws people from all sides towards a central entrance.