Bibliothèque Municipale de Chauderon, Lausanne

The complex topography of the city of Lausanne in Western Switzerland led civil engineers and architects to resort to creative solutions. Cutting through the hilly banks of Lake Geneva on which the city sits lies the valley of the river Flon. Once an vital source of water and power around which most of the city’s industry was concentrated, the river has since largely been covered but its deep valley remains visible. Sitting prominently between two of the large bridges crossing this gap lies a cluster of administrative buildings that are hard to miss. Built in 1970-1974, the Chauderon complex brought together municipal administrative services which until then were scattered across the city.

For this ambitious project, the city mandated the newly formed Atelier des Architectes Associés (AAA), a practice founded by recent graduates of the local architecture school at EPUL (now EPFL). Led by Roland Willomet and in association with a more established architect, Paul Dumartheray, the project team proposed an L-shaped cluster formed of a long rectangular building facing the Flon valley to the south and a smaller structure facing place Chauderon to the north-east. Because of the limited footprint available for load bearing structures, the floors of the two office towers are suspended from a central core. Cladding is provided by mass-produced panels combining the distinctive round-cornered windows with insulated steel frames, drawing on the expertise of famous French designer Jean Prouvé who was hired to help with the design of the facade elements.

Inspired by North-American urban developments, the buildings were linked by a sunken plaza and a network of concrete ramps and walkways connecting to the streets above. The plan was to relinquish the street level to cars, while pedestrian traffic would flow through underground tunnels crossing the streets and connecting to the plaza. Consequently, public-facing services were installed on the lower level: retail to the east and a public library to the west. Between the two, a bright orange restaurant pavilion rose to close off the plaza.

The initial designs of the complex had grander plans for the library. While stacks were still largely underground at the plaza level, readers would have been able to enjoy them in an Oscar-Niemeyeresque conical reading room. Commercial interests prevailed, however, and the final design replaced the library reading room with a restaurant, and its 1960s verticality with the funky playfulness of the 1970s.

The novelty of the restaurant pavilion went beyond its playful round and oval windows, orange cladding and crenellated roof. On the top floor, opening to place Chauderon, was a Mövenpick restaurant with 115 seats doubling in summer with another 100 on the terrace. While the interior decoration was decidedly more traditional than the exterior, this was a state-of-the-art restaurant with the second electronic till system installed in the country (the first was at another Mövenpick in St Gallen opened a few weeks earlier). On the plaza level, what is now the library was the first franchise of Silberkugel fast-food chain in Western Switzerland, also operated by Mövenpick. For Lausanners, Silberkugel was a novel concept: instead of individual tables and chairs, patrons sat on stools lining large U-shaped counters, where they ordered food from an overhead menu instead of printed menu cards. Inexpensive and quickly prepared, food was delivered by waitresses inexplicably called “beefyettes” or available as take-out, and payment was done at a cashier station upon exiting the restaurant.

The pedestrian tunnels however proved too foreboding and foot traffic remained on street level instead of through the sunken plaza as intended. In the 1980s, AAA was commissioned to reorganize the retail spaces which were still standing empty and reassign them to the library, which also took over the lower floor of the pavilion. A new entrance for the library was built in place of the restaurant’s distinctive round windows. Even though it was eventually relocated, the library was part of the complex’s program from the start and as far as I can tell, the bookshelves in use today are still original.

Today, the only trace remaining of the pavilion’s brief existence as an avant-garde culinary destination is its distinctive orange colour, matching that of the Mövenpick logo in the 1970s. Somewhat cavernous, the library stretches in the subterranean spaces initially planned for retail. Since this happens to be where its extensive comic book collection is displayed, patrons however have no trouble finding their way there.

Even though I lived many years in Lausanne, I have to admit that I never spent much time in this library, preferring the branch that was closer to where I lived. I don’t miss a chance to visit when I travel back, however, like in 2019 and 2022 when I took the above photos.

This post is part of a series on adaptive reuse in libraries. See the list of such projects I am maintaining or view other posts in this series.

References

1. Maddalena, D. (2020). AAA : l’Atelier des Architectes Associés (1961-1976) Un bureau lausannois durant les Trente Glorieuses [Mémoire de Maîtrise universitaire ès lettres en histoire de l’art, Université de Lausanne].
2. Willomet, R., & Dumartheray, P. (1975). Immeubles administratifs et commerciaux place Chauderon, Lausanne. Das Werk : Architektur Und Kunst = L’oeuvre : Architecture et Art, 9, pp. 813–817.
3. Charmod, A. (1974). Les nouveaux bâtiments de la place Chauderon. Nouvelle Revue de Lausanne, p. 294.
4. Les trente glorieuses: Bâtiments administratifs de Chauderon. (2018). Site officiel de la Ville de Lausanne.
5. Marchand, B., Savoyat, M., & Chenu, L. (2012). Architecture du canton de Vaud 1920-1975. Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes. p. 267