Built on the campus of EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the Rolex Learning Center designed by the internationally acclaimed Japanese architectural practice, SANAA, will function as a laboratory for learning, a library with 500,000 volumes and an international cultural hub for EPFL, open to both students and the public.
Spread over one single fluid space of 20,000 sq metres, it provides a seamless network of services, libraries, information gathering, social spaces, spaces to study, restaurants, cafes and beautiful outdoor spaces. It is a highly innovative building, with gentle slopes and terraces, undulating around a series of internal ʻpatiosʼ, with almost invisible supports for its complex curving roof, which required completely new methods of construction.Called Forum Rolex, the conference and event venue has a seating capacity of 600, arranged around a collapsible circular stage of 70 m2. Equipped with all the latest technologies, a cloakroom and a lodge, the Forum Rolex can be booked every day throughout the year.