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Lausanne, Switzerland – The foundation stone was laid Tuesday for the Rolex Learning Center at EPFL, Lausanne’s federal polytechnic institute, although the word "stone" was mostly symbolic.

Nine containers, each holding symbols of the five faculty’s work, as well as symbols chosen by other groups, were put inside the main slab for the library. The Learning Center, scheduled to open in late 2009, will serve as the heart of the campus, housing the library, dining areas, meeting and work spaces.

The campus has grown rapidly since it was founded in 1977 and has suffered to some extent from a lack of "living" space which the new centre is designed to  change.

GL ed. note: The CHF104 million centre is 50% funded by the Swiss government, with the rest coming from private donors: Rolex is the main one and Credit Suisse, Nestlé, Logitech, Losinger, the Schnitzler Foundation, and Daniel Borel are also sponsors.

Japanese architects Sanaa won the bid for the Learning Center. They have been working closely with Losinger, the general contractor, and engineers to turn the audacious design into reality. The shifting levels of open spaces, environmentally-friendly heating and cooling systems and acoustic challenges require significant testing before each stage of the building work goes ahead. Two key elements of the contract were that there will be no cost overruns and construction would start 31 August 2007 and be completed in just over two years. Where unexpected additional expenses occur, a means of cutting costs elsewhere must be found. The project is currently a month ahead of schedule, according to newspaper Le Temps.

EPFL has made a conscious effort to actively involve students, staff and faculty in the two-year construction progress, marking various stages with images, web pages with background details and news, an internal blog and a short story contest won by student Flavien Rouiller (read the winning story).

See also: articles in French, Le Temps and 24 Heures.