With their characteristic decoration and their bridgehead location, the Chauderon administrative buildings lend their image to a broad panorama. Built from 1970 to 1974, they are the work of Roland Willomet and Paul Dumartheray of the Atelier des Architectes Associés and represent one of Lausanne’s most remarkable creations from the decade.
Combining service and leisure activities, pedestrian walkways, green areas and parking, the complex offers a somewhat autarkic scheme. It is made up of two large rectangular structures projecting out over a base that, descending to the Flon level, is arranged in a garden terrace and houses the parking lot.
The ornamentation of the facades is the work of the famous French architect and designer Jean Prouvé, who simultaneous worked on the headquarters of the French communist party in Paris in collaboration with the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. More than 700 manufactured metal panels, 3.4m x 1.8m in size, with drilled portholes and sealed for weather and sound insulation, form a high-tech skin. The reflective copper windows round out the purity of the many colours.
Jean Prouvé worked on the most prestigious French building sites of the time, including the CNIT in the Défense quartier in Paris and the Palais Omnisports in Bercy. He also chaired the judging panel that selected the design for the Centre Georges Pompidou.
