Preserve or Demolish?

A Barcelona firm was just selected to design a new cultural quarter in the Swiss city of Lausanne. Their bold proposal to shift from the historical toward the contemporary set them apart from the other finalists.

"They found EBV's the most convincing entry because it was the only one to propose replacing a historic building with a new home for the Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts.

The judges felt this would be the best way of fulfilling the brief, which sought to create a new cultural district for the city centre on a site currently filled with abandoned rail yards.

The practice aims to preserve the area's industrial atmosphere by retaining some of the existing buildings and infrastructure.

"Whether to preserve or demolish was one of the biggest questions," said Samsel"

Full story: http://archrecord.construction.com/yb/ar/article.aspx?story_id=160448017

More: http://www.musees.vd.ch/en/musee-des-beaux-arts/exhibition/past-exhibitions/the-winning-design-in-the-architecture-competition-bleu-for-the-new-mcba/