Created upon the initiative of a cooperative housing company, the Prélaz complex is a model example of a garden city. It was built by architects Frédéric Gilliard and Frédéric Godet in 1921. It comprises a total of 60 dwellings spread between two apartment buildings and 34 small, individual terraced houses organised into four rows. The complex is based on a carefully prepared urban planning layout, executed on a slight slope around a shaded plot of trees in the centre of the housing estate. Each house has its own spacious garden for leisure purposes or gardening. The average level of comfort offered by the garden city meant it was a progressive venture for its time.
The idea of combining individual and collective accommodation, as well as that of incorporating Lausanne’s typical sloping landscape into projects, was repeated in the 1980s by the Atelier Cube architects in the Boissonnet neighbourhood. A more recent example is provided by the “Prélaz Gardens” city initiative, constructed in 2005 only metres downhill from the 1920s complex.
