School at Chamblandes

The school of Chamblandes at Pully near Lausanne comprises two buildings constructed in 1912 on an artificial esplanade flanked by a high wall which rises above a meadow and the lake. Its extension groups the new classrooms in a single, separate building, detached from the wall and at a lower level. The building, in this lower garden, is added to the two others, emphasizing the fluidity of space on the esplanade, where lateral views from one building to another are not only preserved but accentuated. The wall of yellow quartzite in which the stones and openings are inserted with the aim of disrupting its scale and making it no more than the north wall of the volume, opens on to a large transverse hall which allows a view of the lake's surface from the entrance porch of the complex. The slabs, extended by the marquises, prolong the lake landscape inside the building through an alternation of transparent glass and panels of translucent fibreglass. The aluminium facades are related to nautical technology (carbon fibre embedded in polyester) to from a curtain onto the lake.