OFFICE 341

The competition for a new building for the Faculty of Human Sciences was taken as an opportunity to rethink the future sustainable extension of the University campus in Lausanne. Two buildings—the low “table” and the high “tower”—are inserted within the existing disparate site plan as new defining urban nodes. Both buildings are organised as square slabs with vertical transportation cores in the corners, with all the technical spaces and circulation arranged along the perimeter. This strategy leaves the central space free of any load-bearing structure, and flexible for any use. The lower building is half-sunken and contains lecture halls, classrooms, student workspaces, as well as a restaurant with an access to the roof. In a similar fashion, the tower has classrooms and workspaces arranged in the centre of the plan, while the double-height space along the perimeter allows for various informal gatherings or events. This bioclimatic double-skin facade creates a buffer zone, providing natural ventilation and thermic control of the central space. The structure combines recycled concrete of the slabs with wooden lattice beams and CLT cores.