Danish architect 3XN and Swiss designer Itten + Brechbühl have unveiled their plan for an extension to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).
The 140,000 sq.metre Ecotope expansion of the institute’s Science Park and Innovation Square will be an “ecological landscape” with laboratories and offices arranged around its perimeter, joined by two atriums.
The Science Park and Innovation Square presently houses 150 start-ups and 30 large companies employing over 2,600 people. Now it is at capacity and an expansion is necessary.
The first phase of construction for the Ecotope campus is set to begin in 2023. A clean transportation system will also be developed to link Ecotope to the main EPFL campus.
Jan Ammundsen, 3XN’s senior partner, said: “Our design creates a place that will have a positive impact on society for years to come. Ecotope will be a campus that facilitates and generates disruptive innovative solutions by being the interface between EPFL and society at large.”
Ursula Oesterle, EPFL’s vice president for innovation, added: “It’s not just about adding surface area. Today, businesses interested in innovation – whether startups or established companies – need a place where they can meet on a daily basis to share ideas.
“That’s the kind of vibrant, stimulating environment we intend to create with Ecotope.”
3XN and IB, whose joint proposal was selected out of four invited proposals, have a history of robust collaboration, most recently with the winning design for Tour Tilia, a mixed-use timber tower that will be built on the outskirts of Lausanne.
Image credit: 3XN
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