Advanced Science Building, Écublens
The Advanced Science Building is a high-tech research building at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), designed to meet the requirements of complex fundamental research with specialized labs. The main challenge involved was taking the specific needs of a high-tech research building with isolated, ultramodern labs and integrating them into a welcoming, interdisciplinary working environment. Our project proposes a compact, five-story building that combines this dichotomy in a functional way: A hard core with a flexible shell. Inside, experiment spaces for quantum physics, nanotechnology, chemistry, biology and materials science are completely isolated from external influences such as noise, vibrations and temperature changes. In parallel, the design facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration for the 26 international research groups.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)
2024
Competition, 2nd placeCompetition, 2nd rank
ArtefactoryLab
Competition, Research & Education
Geneva, Schweiz
Lausanne, Schweiz
Project specifics
Hard core, flexible shell
The key concept of the building features a concentric layout around the laboratories: A hard core with a flexible shell
Highly specialized labs and meeting spaces foster interdisciplinary research. Both parts of the design, although distinct in their uses and technical requirements, must function in perfect symbiosis.
The hard core houses the laboratories, protected by a concrete enclosure against external interference, natural light and vibrations. This core extends over two underground floors to meet increased requirements in terms of vibrations and electromagnetic fields.
Maintenance and technical support for the laboratories are provided by a final programmatic stratum on the periphery of the core.
The flexible shell, a blend of wood and concrete, opens up around the core. This crown provides a variety of working spaces to meet the current needs of researchers while anticipating their future needs through a flexible design.
Design layout
Two floors of labs correspond to three floors of office space. This use of space is key to the project’s versatility: with two floors of laboratories spanning 12 meters in height, three floors of offices – mezzanines – can be built in parallel.
Cutting-edge labs at the core
Highly sensitive measuring instruments used in fields ranging from quantum physics and nanotechnology to biology and chemistry require complete isolation from the outside world. The building’s core and two lower levels house these specialized labs, providing optimum conditions for experiments, sometimes even on an atomic scale. Protected by a concrete wall, these labs are sheltered from natural light and vibrations, shielding them from outside interference.
Foyers: windows into the campus
Visible on the front façade and facing the EPFL campus, the foyers create informal meeting spaces for the scientific community. These communal areas, featuring break spaces, conference rooms and shared workspaces are windows into the scientific community and serve as anterooms for the laboratories. They foster collaboration between research groups and stimulate serendipity, connecting the labs to the offices in the east and west wings.
Flexible workspaces
Three floors of offices with modular mezzanine levels combining wood and concrete are organized around the concrete structure, providing meeting spaces for the 26 interdisciplinary research groups. The wings feature a variety of workspaces laid out along a mud brick wall (Terrabloc) with supporting infrastructure including lockers, temporary workspaces and informal meeting areas. Organized in islands and interspersed with private offices and meeting rooms, individual workspaces break up long, impersonal open spaces, fostering a personalized, collaborative working environment.
The façade: a lightweight envelope
The envelope expresses the rigor and transparency of a cutting-edge research environment. With its concave shape, the northern façade wraps around the front esplanade and marks the entrance to the building, facing the campus. It features high-rise spaces extending from the laboratories, visually reducing the scale of the building and giving it a distinctive presence.
Sustainability with a low-tech façade and a high-tech core
In contrast to the building’s solid core (high-tech), the lightweight envelope adopts a low-tech approach, expressing the modular nature of the peripheral workspace.
With low-carbon and low-tech solutions for the offices and the façade, the goal of DGNB/SGNI certification will be achieved.
- The wood and concrete structure is used for the slabs and supports, while the mass of the labs is exploited for natural night-time ventilation (free cooling).
- Recycling: Excavated earth is reused to build the Terrabloc walls around the labs, improving free cooling.
- With no load-bearing walls, the layout is flexible and highly versatile.
- Furthermore, the façade is a wood-frame construction.
