Rolex Learning Center, Educational center in Ecublens, Switzerland
The Rolex Learning Center is a learning facility on the EPFL campus featuring a flowing, wave-like structure that blurs the boundaries between inside and outside. Open spaces connect through slopes and terraces, creating areas for study, research, and community gatherings without rigid walls.
Japanese architects SANAA designed this complex and opened it in 2010 on the EPFL campus, introducing a new approach to learning spaces. The project emerged from a vision to reimagine how universities could organize study and research without fixed internal divisions.
The center functions as a laboratory for learning, housing a library of 500,000 printed works and providing study areas for 860 students.
The site is accessible daily and offers study areas, multimedia resources, and dining options throughout the building. The gentle slopes and open design make it easy to navigate between different levels and zones.
The building was constructed without traditional interior walls, allowing uninterrupted sight lines through the entire space. Five external courtyards pierce through the structure, bringing daylight and fresh air deep into the interior.
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