2013

Exhibition: "Dominique Perrault Architecture, Territories and Horizons"

EPFL - École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

On the occasion of the inauguration of the new main administration building of the EPFL designed by the Perrault office, a monographic exhibition presents the five Swiss projects of DPA that are either currently under study or being built, a selection of 16 unbuilt Swiss projects as well as a series of international milestone projects. It offers visitors an opportunity to discover or rediscover through 66 models, over two decades of competitions, projects and research developed for the Swiss land- and cityscape.

The minimalist exhibition design is by Gaëlle Lauriot Prévost. The models, made at varying dimensions and scales, are placed on the floor, directly on freshly poured concrete. The almost perfect chronology (only the EPFL model, placed at the far end of the exhibit, opposite the campus landscape, is not in its proper place in this timeline) composes a figure with an astonishing profile. The absence of labels and descriptions on these near the models placed so close together contributes to the unity of the figure, whose crystalline silhouette formed by the transparent protective vitrines brings to mind the profile of the TEACHING bridge.

An abstract figure in 66 parts, for the architect’s very concrete work.

The exhibition is designed to function as a promenade around the models, which laid out in an alignment, resemble a totem pole lying on its side that has been sectioned here and there by illuminated tubes. The lamps designed and produced by SAMMODE have a privileged place in the architect’s repertory of materials, which has for years led to close collaboration with this manufacturer, in the application of research on light.

Only the model of the EWHA Women’s university in Seoul disturbs the ballet of Swiss projects to underscore the proximity these campus of excellence and inviting the viewer to think about the place of the university in the city. The film by Richard Copans, dedicated to the L’UNIVERSITE CACHEE DE SEOUL (SEOUL’S HIDDEN UNIVERSITY) and illustrating Dominique Perrault’s experimentation with disappearing architecture will be projected beside large format images of projects.

This intimate exhibition displayed previously unpublished projects in their original materials, revealing the importance of the model physical in the architect’s process of conception, which he now teaches at the EPFL.