Le Vaud Polyvalent Hall / LOCALARCHITECTURE

Architects: LOCALARCHITECTURE
Location: Grand Rue 4, 1261 Le Vaud, Switzerland
Area: 1209.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Matthieu Gafsou

Wood Engineer: Ratio Bois Sàrl, Ecublens
Civil Engineer: 2M ingéniérie civile SA, Yverdon-les-Bains
Cvs Engineer: Weinmann-Energies SA, Echallens
Lighting: Etienne Gillabert, Paris + Aebischer & Bovigny, Lausanne
Geometric Engineer: Bovard & Nickl SA, Nyon

Text description provided by the architects. Le Vaud’s new community hall is a multipurpose public infrastructure designed to serve and bring together the entire village community. Hosting sports activities, shows, and community events, it supplements existing school facilities while opening up new possibilities for the village and its surrounding communities. The hall’s entrance is sited very appropriately on the road connecting the village church and the school entrance.

A forecourt of exposed concrete marks the venue’s entrance, a connecting link bordered by the sports field, the church cemetery and the existing schoolyard. With this baseline as its anchor, the building’s transparent structure follows the downward slope of the terrain. To the north, the ridges of the Jura Mountains can be seen; to the south, the site offers idyllic views over Mont Blanc and the Alpine landscape. The two gabled façades are the main load-bearing walls, supporting giant wooden beams. This leaves the internal space entirely unobstructed: free to expand and contract following the outline of the outer walls.

This building has its own very unique history. On 4 July 2016, one month before its opening, it was entirely destroyed by fire. Following an interval of recovery and mourning, the reconstruction process provided an opportunity to revisit and further refine every last detail of the construction. This architectural disaster and the rebirth that came after it, are the subject of a forthcoming book and a photographic project.