Photographer Julien Lanoo has sent us his series of the Rolex Learning Centre in Switzerland, designed by Japanese architects SANAA.
The centre opened in February and is located on the campus of science and technology university EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).
More information about the building in our earlier story.
See also:
SANAA win Pritzker Prize
Selected projects by SANAA
All our stories about SANAA
See also:
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May 8th, 2010 at 1:02 am
what need to be add….
amazing.
May 8th, 2010 at 3:17 am
Wonderfull! Concept-to-materiality!
I see that fatboys are the only seating possible in these (huge) empty spaces… Did SANAA also invent auto-levelling tables?
The swiss-cheese-slice-waiting-on-the-counter-to-get-in-a-subway-meatballs-tex-mex-sandwich aesthetic is sucessfully rendered here.
Two thumbs up for two japanese architects!
May 8th, 2010 at 3:29 am
Je dirais même plus: les seules personnes présentes sur les images ont un air catatonique devant autant d’espace vide où ils ne pourront pas jouer aux billes entre les classes… Dommage.
Tristesse et solitude pour les amateurs de billes. (un est visible avec son sac de billes dans les mains.) Triste.
May 8th, 2010 at 4:47 am
one word. “awesome”
May 8th, 2010 at 10:15 am
For me, it seem to be the worst project of SANA, long empty spaces, strange small ramp-stairway in the middle… What about inapproachable space on the ground under the building? From a distance it is looking more better.
May 8th, 2010 at 11:04 am
don’t drop your pencil.
May 8th, 2010 at 11:13 am
I would like to know the purpose for the vast areas of sloping floor space? They cannot accommodate sitting or furniture, they are unpleasant and disorienting to walk on, never mind navigate a wheelchair over. Oh, it’s an interesting and ground-breaking new form you say? Riiight…
May 8th, 2010 at 11:40 am
so so so neat… i wonder anyone works/studies there… no desk..no worktops….
it will be fun to roll from one space to another….
Clean design and detailing. as always with SANAA!!
May 8th, 2010 at 11:42 am
I Like the design of the building, but I’d go nuts walking ramps the whole day
May 8th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
clap clap clap
May 8th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
great fotos!
May 8th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
a real masterpiece!
one of the best buildings in the world!
May 8th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Slightly fantastic. It makes me think i have to unlearn what i know about architecture. i wish, though, the underside of the building were less pristine, and more grotto like. The architects went through some effort to make the building appear as if coming from, or independent from, the ground, and it would have been more interesting if some acknowledgement of “earth” were made.
May 8th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
grat building indeed…still I wonder if it wouldn´t be even better with the two planes not being parallel, thus allowing for a bigger diversity in the interior
May 8th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I wish there are some plans and sections.. I really like to see how those sloped spaces function.
May 8th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
nice work….
the feel of the space will be awesome !
May 8th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Even I could learn here.
May 8th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Why is this good for the human experience?
May 9th, 2010 at 5:54 am
awesome building! But at the same time I wonder how sustainable this building is? It looks like that the architects were given total freedom as long as building looks awesome.
May 9th, 2010 at 6:25 am
good for sketchboard
May 9th, 2010 at 7:49 am
this is architecture, when it is human…
May 9th, 2010 at 10:07 am
full coverage in AR may * .
May 9th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
The best SANAA project.
May 10th, 2010 at 1:14 am
You don’t want to drop any stationery when studying there…
May 10th, 2010 at 1:18 am
The undercroft looks like it would be good for junkies. Lots of negatives to overlook in liking this building.
May 10th, 2010 at 2:22 am
the infinity-like space makes walking from one point to another seem forever. But nevertheless what a breakthrough! MORE COLOURS SANAA. stop building hospitals or psycho-cells.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:24 am
This must be a nightmare for the handicap.
May 10th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Skaters day once a month, please!!
May 10th, 2010 at 9:58 am
its like a bar of chocolate (with filling) YUMMIE
May 10th, 2010 at 11:54 am
one day we will find a new way, and we will look back critizing the lack of humanity; until that times comes, … wow, such a beautiful building.
May 10th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Ramps look very similar to OFIS stadium.
http://www.ofis-a.si/default.cfm?Kat=0206&ProdID=18
Their concept has more sense that this one. Anyway looks good.
May 10th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
It’s beautiful, but.. I’d love to know how it’s supposed to function, it all looks like huge swathes of circulation space at the moment. Do they just set up their classes, slideshows or whatever in the middle of the floor and drop some bean bags down? What is the reason behind all the sloping floors?
May 10th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
umhmmm oooo, James Bond villains pad for sure!
May 10th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Rip out the carpet and glazzing, then wait 2 years for it to become the most expensive graffiti covered skate park the world has ever seen. It already has that post soviet era concrete austerity we really appreciate.
May 10th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Great triumph of Architecture.
Over everything else.
May 10th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
amazing how a concrete building looks so light as if it’s floating…
May 11th, 2010 at 2:05 am
Much as Like the buildings concept the internal ramps look so dangerous for anyone with a foot injury.
I would of liked the building to float on water rather than just gravel.
May 12th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Perfect solution:
The client is Rolex… It doesn’t need to be efficient, it just needs to be a flashy symbol.
May 13th, 2010 at 12:36 am
starchitect-dom clouding sanaa’s rationality (not that modernism was ever “rational”)
May 13th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
i really feel like the project could be elevated if the landscaping underneath was laden with life and colour (mostly green) thn it would seem like a sexy villa savoi
May 13th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
p.s wheel chair users?
May 13th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
great! love they manage to build this! congrats sanaa
May 13th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
WRONG PROGRAM,,, it’s the best skatepark ever and is ruined by the wrong program!!!! no joke,,, it’s the only thing you can “learn” in this building,,,, and watch an skater cry.
May 24th, 2010 at 12:08 am
The building is gorgeous, however women in high heels and those in wheel chairs might have another opinion.
Also I agree with others that the space underneath is crying out for a shaded garden, a rock garden, seating — something please.
June 1st, 2010 at 2:07 pm
great work. SAANA deserves the Pitzker Prize
June 11th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Honestly…why is this good? A whole lof of nothing if you ask me. Terrible spaces to move around in, generally resulting in a whole lot of “nothing” spaces. Apparently Rolex doesnt pay per square metre like the rest of us.
June 16th, 2010 at 9:49 am
I went there a few months ago,and really like the space inside.It’s amazing to test your concept of learning(not the ordinary way of sitting on a desk and write note).
But it’s quite easy to get lost due to the fluid of space,and I guess not everybody will sit in the middle of ramp and read, it’s just too open.
Also the purity of space made me feel I was inside an Aquarium:p
July 1st, 2010 at 8:43 pm
nice space for rollerblading……….