Case Study 1, Lausanne

Brief: this client – a resident of Lausanne and passionate of 20th Century Architecture – commissioned me to create a series of illustrations of some of the most significant Art Deco and Modernist buildings in Lausanne.

Art Deco and Bauhaus as a parallel stream are artistic movements which blossomed as from 1918 after World War I until the beginning of World War II. Art Deco started mainly in Belgium but has some roots in the Arts & Crafts movement as well as the Wiener Werkstätte. The style was a complete break with the pre-war Art Nouveau style which was considered too organic and exuberant. It was a return to classic rigours with ornamental symmetry. Threre are many examples of Art Deco in Lausanne, but in general there buildings are much more sober and less pompous that in Paris, Brussels, London, New York or Chicago.

Lausanne had a very active time, in the period between 1920-40 many buildings were built. Lausanne has quite a difficult terrain with a valley and on an inclined terrain leading towards Geneva lake where most of the city was built. New methods allowed to build higher buildings and bridges to better link the different parts of town. Many living quarters were not healthy and did not have the appropriate sanitation. The socialist government of Lausanne of that period pushed construction in private-public partnerships to offer healthy and clean dwellings to the inhabitants (large windows for air and sunlight) kitchen, bathrooms and toilets in each apartment. Many housing complexes were built with apartments, restaurants, entertainment, shops and workshops and which, although now in the middle of the town, they were initially in the town’s periphery.

While none of the famous architects of that era built in Lausanne, many local architects took inspiration from the movement and created a quite unique Lausanne style. Very few other Swiss towns had such building activity in this period. It shaped Lausanne a lot at a time when the city had some international reputation as it hosted several important conferences and led to the signing of important treaties.

Bauhaus in Lausanne is recognisable in one apartment building – La Chandoline – and some villas on the periphery. This style was an adaptation of the Art Deco, though far less pompous.