Lausanne Opera House
The opera building of Lausanne is located in the heart of the city. The stage and its volume, the reception for the artist, technicians and administration, the functionality and the fluent movement around and on the stage truly form a machine in the service of the public, the auditorium. On the inside like on the outside, the project is fully focused on this technic representing the origins of the magic of the performance.
The whole of the new building is cladded in a “skin” of glass and steel panels, which evoke an image of the velvet and brilliance of an evening gown. The arrangement and the varied sizes of different kinds of cladding (brushed steel, blasted steel, mirror like polished steel, transparent glass and reflective glass) create a crescendo from the most reflective to the mattest finish in two directions, towards the top letting the building volume disappear into the sky and down towards the street level where the building seems to merge with the urban space of the street. The project plays with the idea of the absence of an object as well as its presence, elusive and sensual, all at the same time.
