GenevaLunch photo album of the Rolex Learning Center 52 images by Mr Kio and Peter Brodbeck (best viewed as a stream)
Rolex Learning Center reflects shift to group and project learning, digital sources
EPFL (photo ©2010 Mr Kio)
Update 30 March 21:45 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The bad old days of sitting in fusty dark and silent libraries pouring over books are definitely a thing of the past at EPFL‘s new Rolex Learning Center (RLC). The building itself is airy and light, with a multitude of open spaces where students gather in small groups or stretch out on bright beanbag chairs.
The architects of this extraordinary building were named the winners of the annual, highly coveted international architectural Pritzker Prize Monday 29 March for the body of their work. Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, partners in the Japanese architecture firm Sanaa, created the space for the RLC in response to changes that have come from students themselves, says the university.
EPFL (photo ©2010 Mr Kio)
EPFL (photo ©2010 Mr Kio)
“Our students are using our libraries more and more frequently, but less for the purpose of borrowing books and more to work, either individually or in groups,” the RLC blog before the library opened in February. “The Bologna reform and a general trend in education towards learning through projects and group work are having an impact on students today. They are looking for a mix: a place where they can either sit for several hours and work or where they can find information on paper and electronically, and where they can choose to work in silence or interact with their fellow students.”
Jacques Chessex (photo: ©2009 Ellen Wallace)
Yverdon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A man widely considered to be one of Switzerland’s greatest writers, the unassuming Jacques Chessex who was the first non-French winner of the prestigious Goncourt literary prize, died Friday night in Yverdon just after a public presentation in the town’s library, surrounded by the books that were his great love. He collapsed when his heart gave out and died shortly afterwards. Chessex, age 75, was the author of 31 books, most of them slim but incisive novels famous for their eloquent language. They often described the world around him, in French-speaking Switzerland, but captured the threads of human relations that run deeper than local stories: “Explorer of the human soul in all its complexity,” were the words Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz used to describe him.
