2011
Competition

Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts

Culture Basel
Switzerland

The museum project is the catalyst for opening up this topographic situation, which is so exceptional for Lausanne, as a series of Terrasses Culturelles. From a wooded forecourt of the Terrasse Boisée, through the restored shed to the extensive roof terraces to the west. The area of tension between high urban density and landscape context characterizes this place.

A visit begins with the Terrasse Boisée; a refuge of unexpected atmosphere between the track field and the dynamic station square. The Halle aux Locomotives discreetly houses all the museum's public functions in the original structure of the Remisenhalle.

All the exhibition rooms are located to the west, then on the ground floor. The temporary and permanent exhibitions are designed as tours, both of which lead back to the starting point.

The tours are rhythmic through the arrangement of inner courtyards. These serve to provide natural lighting, facilitate orientation and create external references. The geometry of the exhibition rooms with their exact north-south orientation can be read here.

Visitors who walk up the side ramp from the Terrasse Boisée meet the main entrance behind the building near the nave of the shed. From here, they continue on to the Terrasses Alpines, with a wide view of the Alps beyond the railway tracks.

The roof garden extends further west beyond the exhibition area to the museum tower which forms the end of the building complex.