Switzerland: Prototype of a Wooden Hotel

Full Course Description

The city of Lausanne, situated by the lake of Geneva, organized an international exposition of horticulture which congressed and included events and a huge number of participants and visitors. Because there was a lack of hotel rooms, several hotel rooms were be built for this event. The mandate for the architect (student) was to project an innovative hotel on a site in Lausanne. It had to be built largely of wood, due to its thematic alliance with the exposition. It would also be that a conjunction of a horticultural part with the hotel wouldbe interesting. The architect took the opportunity to consider the project as a prototype for a prefabricated hotel building system. This permitted the realization thereafter of a series of hotels in Middle Europe, in different configurations and contexts. The developed competence in the domain of this “mandate”, some studies and analysis were executed concerning:

• history of mobile architecture
• exemplary hotel concepts
• basics for construction of prefabricated wood building
• exemplary structural solutions for objects that are composed serially. These objects may be artifacts (sculpture, graphics, technics) or natural products (tissues, honeycombs, etc.)