The Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) is devising its future campus by adopting an innovative, unique and international approach. The students of ten architecture universities from around the world, along with students from EHL, will meet in early July to devise their future place of studies.

Lausanne, 16th May 2013 | This year the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, the oldest hotel management school in the world, is celebrating its 120th anniversary and is looking to the future by devising the campus that will accompany students, teachers and researchers tomorrow on the path to excellence.

Driven by a new strategy, EHL has put in place a unique and innovative process to create the advanced infrastructure that will accompany its future expansion. With the slogan "A campus for students designed by students", the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne has organized since January 2013 an international working group bringing together 385 students from 10 architecture schools and universities around the world. Remi Walbaum, director, campus development, is delighted about this event: " Thanks to this project bringing together talented students from around the world, our campus will be transformed into a place of reflection and idea-sharing. It is thus fully embedded in our teaching mission and our innovative vision of tomorrow's campus."

Carte blanche for the students

The project, named Campus Development Forum, is aimed at devising the new architectural face of the internationally renowned institution for a horizon of 2020. The Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne wanted those who are primarily concerned – the students – to propose their vision of an ideal campus. Their different sensitivities and cultures will enable them to rise better than anybody to the multicultural and transgenerational challenges of the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, which boasts 80 nationalities, 3 programmes and 360 staff members, lecturers, professors and researchers.

This approach, which is both academic and practical, enables the students to fully participate in the process of developing a real architectural project. EHL is being assisted with the handling of the project by the Lausanne architects' office Richter-Dahl Rocha & Associés, who are coordinating the teachers and students involved to devise a creative project that is feasible and complies with urban standards. The students will in particular have to create 650 new accommodation units, an application hotel, new sports infrastructure and a living area.

An international campus

Coming from Spain, South Korea, Argentina, Portugal, India, the United States, Slovenia but also from Switzerland and Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, the students will all meet on the EHL site from July 2 to 5 this year to share their experiences and present their project to a committee of experts made up of internationally renowned architects such as Francisco J. Mangado, João Nunes, Ignacio Dahl Rocha and Patrick Jordi, who had won the competition in 2008 for the extensions to the EHL site.

At the end of the forum on the EHL site, the architects' office Richter-Dahl Rocha & Associés will select the best ideas and summarize them to come up with a master plan that will be revealed in early 2014. The Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne and the architects' office that is assisting them are convinced that the wealth of human exchanges is the source of creativity and new ways of conceiving of the world that surrounds us. In the opinion of architect and professor Ignacio Dahl Rocha, " Creativity is no longer only that of an individual genius but is linked to a collective creative process. This project is unique because it will bring together the creativity enriched by the cultural differences of the participants."

In the view of Michel Rochat, director of the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, the future campus has to embody the spirit of the institution: " Thanks to this innovative project, which is one of the practical embodiments of the school's ambitious development strategy, our campus will profile itself even more as the benchmark venue and meeting place for hospitality industry professionals."

A selection of the works completed by the students of the ten universities will be displayed in an exhibition at EHL on the first day of the forum. Students, teachers, representatives of EHL and the municipality of Lausanne, sustainable development experts, landscapers and sociologists will thus be able to exchange views on the ideas and visions of the hotel management school's future campus.


List of schools and universities taking part in the Forum

  • Korea University Department of Architecture, Seoul, South Korea
  • Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Estudios Urbanos Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Chile
  • Facultad de Arquitectura, Planeamiento y Diseño Universidad de Rosario, Argentina
  • Center of Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, India
  • Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
  • Facultade de Arquitetura da Universidade do Porto, Portugal
  • Fakuleta za Arrhitekturo, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Rice University School of Architecture, Houston, USA
  • Haute Ecole du Paysagisme and d'Architecture de Genève (HEPIA), Switzerland
  • Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland

 

About EHL Group

EHL Group is the global reference in education, innovation and consulting for the hospitality and service sector.
With expertise dating back to 1893, EHL Group now offers a wide range of leading educational programs from apprenticeships to master's degrees, as well as professional and executive education, on three campuses in Switzerland and Singapore. EHL Group also offers consulting and certification services to companies and learning centers around the world. True to its values and committed to building a sustainable world, EHL Group's purpose is to provide education, services and working environments that are people-centered and open to the world. www.ehlgroup.com

Anouck WEISS
Director of Communications
+41 (0)21 785 13 54
EHL