In 1989, architect Dominique Perrault was commissioned to build the Bibliothèque Nationale de France – France’s national library – which is now considered a landmark of 20th-century architecture.

This flagship project laid the foundation for a new approach, called Groundscape, that explores the relationship between architectural structures and the ground below them. It brings to light a hidden and often overlooked aspect of urban planning – the urban underground, together with its potential as a sustainable resource.

In the future, building design will take greater account of this subterranean aspect and cities will develop in three dimensions, creating a new type of urban network that makes better use of underground spaces. The Groundscape approach stands to offer many solutions to the environmental and other challenges that cities currently face.

In this Campus Lecture, Perrault will start by describing the work his firm, Perrault Architecture, has done at EPFL over the years. The discussion will then turn to ways in which architects can interact with the urban underground and the development of cities’ superstructure, while at the same time protecting the natural environment. Such strategies can deliver effective responses to the impact of climate change.

By turning infrastructure into architecture and living spaces, we can further develop the ground surface and lastingly embed urban architecture in the surrounding territory.

In addition, making better use of the urban underground can help city planners not only preserve heritage buildings without compromising their integrity, but also enhance these structures to accommodate new uses.

Perrault will present three examples:

• The Double Deck project to renovate the Esplanade and Coupole on EPFL’s Lausanne campus
• The transformation of the Gustave-Roussy metro station in Villejuif (near Paris) into an open-air architectural site
• The Lightwalk project to create an underground urban area in Seoul, South Korea.

In 1989, Dominique Perrault, architect and urban planner, was commissioned to build the Bibliothèque nationale de France, a building that is now part of twentieth-century architectural history. He has completed many innovative, large-scale projects, including the Velodrome and Olympic swimming pool in Berlin (1999), the Campus Complex Center at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul (2008), the last two extensions to the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg (2019), and is currently transforming the former air terminal at Les Invalides into the future museum-school of the Giacometti Foundation. Dominique Perrault sees architecture as a discipline intrinsically linked to urban planning, and has worked on the urban future of the Ile de la Cité in Paris, developed the Athletes’ Village for the Paris 2024 Games, and is currently designing a major intermodal transit centre for the city of Seoul called Lightwalk. An honorary professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, he is also winner of the Praemium Imperiale prize and a member of the Institut.

Between 2024 and 2028, a number of projects designed by Dominique Perrault will be delivered in France and abroad: the Villejuif Gustave Roussy railway station, the To Lyon tower in Lyon, the extension to the Esplanade-Coupole on the EPFL campus in Lausanne, the extension to the ‘Caja Magica’ for the Mutua Madird Open and several residential and office towers in Seoul.

Coming soon