Rolex Learning Centre by SANAA

With its timeless view over Lake Geneva and its ranking (alongside Cambridge) as Europe’s number one university for Engineering Technology and Computer Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) simply demanded a dramatic, high-tech architectural statement for its new learning centre. And that being the case, renowned Japanese practice SANAA was the ideal architect for the job.

Established in 1995, SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) are renowned for their capacity to meld innovation, aesthetic simplicity, and technical complexity. They designed the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion in London in 2009 and their most recent completed project, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York was received to wide acclaim, as was the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa, Japan, and by 2012, the Louvre-Lens in France should be open for business. And if one ever needed proof of the practice’s aesthetic daring, then it might be time to have a look at the Rolex Learning Centre.

The “Rolex” in the Learning Centre’s name is the fruit of a long-standing relationship between EFPL and the prestigious watch manufacturer, based on research into materials science and microtechnology for watch design, and Rolex’s long philanthropic involvement in the arts, science and culture (the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative might ring a bell). (The project was also financed by the Swiss government and major Swiss businesses, including Credit Suisse, Nestlé, Novartis, SCIPIA and Logitech.)

With innovation as its underlying purpose – and SANAA at the architectural helm – it is no surprise to see that the Rolex Learning Centre is also truly innovative in form, function, and aesthetics. Spread over one single fluid 20,000 square metre space, the centre provides a seamless network of services, libraries, information gathering, social spaces, study areas, restaurants, cafés, and enticing outdoor places. Although basically rectilinear in form, the building takes on a more organic shape due to the gentle slopes and terraces that undulate around a series of internal patios, and a complex curving roof that sits atop almost invisible supports, as though floating on air, or on the surface of Lake Geneva itself.

Inside, the architecture becomes even more startling: one encounters not walls and doors and partitions, but instead a veritable landscape. This internal topography of hills, valleys and plateaux, sounds like it would be more likely on the outside, but it has a wonderfully unique effect, disguising the edges of the walls so that they almost evade detection. There are no visual barriers between one place and the next, and even those areas that are sectioned off – clusters of small group work and meeting areas – take the form of glazed bubbles.

The building itself serves a tripartite function: as a laboratory for learning; a library with 500,000 volumes; and an internal hub for the university, open to use by both students and the public alike. But rather than isolating specific functions to defined areas, both the university and the architects worked to ensure that the Learning Centre formed an open, innovative, integrative space. The Rolex Learning Centre, in the words of EPFL President, Patrick Aebischer, “exemplifies [the] university as a place where traditional boundaries between disciplines are broken down. Where mathematicians and engineers meet, with neuroscientists and microtechnicians to envision new technologies that improve lives”.

LIBRARY TIME

The lack of physical boundaries in the library is described as its most “audacious” feature: rather than the cloisters and dark stacks of a traditional library, this one is a large open space, defined by an artificial geography where silent zones are grouped along its hills and slopes, rather than sectioned off from the main space. This openness recognises the importance of social interaction and the flow of ideas in learning, and encourages solidarity among the university’s hard-working students.

The main library – with over 500,000 volumes, dating back to the 16th Century, including rare works by Galileo and Newton – is one of the largest scientific collections in Europe. There is capacity for 860 students within the library’s four main study areas, along with office space for over 100 EPFL and other employees. nStudents and visitors also have access to a state-of-the-art multimedia library, with over 100,000 online journals and 17,000 e-books, advanced lending machines and bibliographic search systems, as well as 10 teaching “bubbles” designed for meetings and group work, and a dedicated Language and Multimedia Centre (with associated administration offices). A separate study area provides post-graduate researchers with access to the university’s major archive and research collection.

LEARNING TIME

The CRAFT Laboratory (Centre de Recherche et d’Appui pour la Formation et ses Technologies) is EPFL’s research centre: an ideas factory that melds computer interfaces with real-life interaction – examples include interactive furniture, paper/computer interfaces, and eye-tracing devices – endeavouring to improve the learning process. As well as the focus on new learning technologies, CRAFT also contains a careers centre for EPFL students, the student union (AGEpoly) and the A3 EPFL Graduates’ Association, as well as a multimedia bookstore and EPFL shop.

PUBLIC TIME

In keeping with EPFL’s dedication to public involvement, and the concept of “working in science” as “working for the advancement of society” (EPFL Chairman Patrick Aebischer’s description of the University), the Learning Centre has extensive public facilities. The Rolex Forum is an amphitheatre with a 310m2 stage and capacity for up to 600 people, can be used for conferences, lectures, performances, and other large scale events. The Centre’s catering outlets – all open to the public – are also included here, covering everything from a cybercafé and selfservice cafeteria through to a fine dining restaurant at the bulding’s summit, with views over Lake Geneva and the Alps beyond.

OUTDOOR TIME

The fluidity of the building’s form is emphasised by fourteen glazed and softly-rounded voids in the structure, described by SANAA as ‘patios’. The Rolex Learning Centre also includes five fully external patios: intimate courtyards with sympathetic seating, intended as relaxation areas for students and the public alike (when the weather is fine and the season warm). Of course, innovation is nothing without sustainability, and with the help of local pioneering engineering firm Sorane SA, the Rolex Learning Centre achieves a 38.5 kWh/m2 energy consumption. The building is largely daylit, with carefully controlled natural ventilation systems. High-quality double-glazed windows, 20cm of insulation in the roof at 35cm in the ground, and exterior blinds, all working to maintain energy efficieny and a comfortable internal climate during the cold alpine winter. The building also benefits from the pre-existing 25-year-old thermal pump system, which uses the waters of Lake Geneva to cool the whole EPFL campus.

All in all, the new Rolex Learning Centre is a dramatically innovative building – like the research and academia carried on within its organic, topographic walls – but one that will no doubt stand up to the practical and aesthetic tests of time. +

IMAGES Courtesy and Copyright of Hisao Suzuki and Alain Herzog

1.  The Rolex Learning Centre is a place of innovative research and knowledge development: the perfect setting for SANAA’s “audaciously” high-tech architectural approach. 2. A combination of roof voids and internal and external ‘patios’ ensures that the building, though technically monolithic, appears sinuous and open. 3. Users of the Learning Centre have extensive outdoor grounds to enjoy, while extensive glazing on the building’s exterior ensures maximum access to daylight for those using the internal spaces. 4 & 5. Inside, the architects have created a sort of interior landscape of hills and valleys: a completely open, creative and innovative use of space, which will be put to use in much the same way.