a new arts district near plateforme 10 brings three museums to lusanne

steps from the Plateforme 10 station in lusanne

A new arts district has arisen just a few steps from Lausanne’s main train station, Plateforme 10. Unique in Switzerland, the neighborhood is sited along a former railway locomotive repair shed, and covers a surface area of over 25,000 square meters. Included in the district are three museums — the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts (MCBA), the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac), and Photo Élysée, the Cantonal Museum for Photography.

The new district is set to open on June 18th, 2022, and will be inaugurated with an exhibition TRAIN ZUG TRENO TREN. The show takes the four national languages of Switzerland in its title, and pays tribute to the site’s proximity to the important railway station.

Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac) | Image © Matthieu Gafsou

‘tren zug treno tren’

Two ultramodern buildings designed by internationally renowned architects — Barozzi Veiga (see here) from Barcelona for MCBA and Aires Mateus (see here) from Lisbon for mudac and Photo Elysée — stand beside railroad tracks in the middle of a vast esplanade that invites visitors to discover a range of artworks and to linger and enjoy the day, on foot, bike, or skateboard, between terraces and arcades that form the perfect backdrop for bars, shows, and concerts.

The new building that is now home to Photo Elysée and mudac is inaugurating its exhibition spaces, enabling them to deploy their museum activities and move on to a new stage in their development. Together with the MCBA, they present an exhibition theme in common devoted to the imagery inspired by railroads and train stations. Plateforme 10 is now a cultural hub that cannot be overlooked, making the City of Lausanne definitively the capital of culture for French-speaking Switzerland.

Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac) | Image © Matthieu Gafsou

‘tren zug treno tren’

The three shows at Lausanne’s Plateforme 10 arts district favor and encourage a crossover of views, while rejecting any literal or strictly chronological approach. They are trans-disciplinary as well and prefer to address their subject throughout, symbolizing in a subtle mix of versality and the force of identity, the birth and development of this unique platform, Lausanne’s new arts neighborhood.

MCBA presents The imagery of trains and with over 60 masterpieces by a range of artists, from Giorgio de Chirico and Edward Hopper to Paul Delvaux and Leonor Fini, the show smotthly whisks us off on a railroad epic.

The exhibition Crossing Lines, presenting at Photo Elysée, explores new approaches over more than a century and a half of railroad stories.

Mudac, with the exhibition Let’s meet at the station, focuses on the idea of meeting and the roman de gare (the pulp novel but literally in France the ‘train station novel’) and places the individual at the center of its show.

Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac) | Image © Matthieu Gafsou
Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac) | Image © Matthieu Gafsou

Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac) Image © Matthieu Gafsou

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Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac) and Photo Elysée | Image © Matthieu Gafsou

Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts (MCBA)

project info:

Project Title: Plateforme 10 Arts District

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland

Museums: the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts (MCBA), the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac), and Photo Élysée, the Cantonal Museum for Photography

Architecture: Barozzi Veiga (MCBA), Aires Mateus (mudac, Photo Elysée)

kat barandy I designboom

apr 06, 2022