EPFL / ENAC / IA / ALICEatelier de la conception de l’espacespring semester 2009dieter dietz, aline dubach, eveline galatis, olivier ottevaere, daniel pokora, isabella pasqualini, katia ritz

A L I C E

e v o l v e r

contentsevo lver 8

assembly 24

evo lver ze rmat t s te l l i see 2009 2010 30

team 50

acknowledgments 50

des ign process 10

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evolverEvolver is an inhabitable sculpture erected for the Zermatt Festival, the renowned annual event

for Chamber Music featuring the Berlin Philharmonics and many others. As an architectural

artifact Evolver intervenes spatially on the panorama surrounding Zermatt and was designed

and executed by a team of 2nd year architecture students from the ALICE studio at EPFL

in Lausanne, Switzerland. In an effort to take full advantage of the site’s extensive and

astounding views, the project sits strategically next to the lake Stelli at an altitude of 2536m.

Its structure mainly consists of a succession of 24 rotating frames supporting an enclosed

space that visitors are encouraged to enter. As he or she progresses through the space, a

concealed but uninterrupted 720° movement is unraveling along a transformed panorama.

This transformation occurs while inside a person is moving along a selective string of openings

only to be caught peeling off a sequence of unexpected views from the original landscape.

Wobbling below and above a distant horizon, ground and sky have been re-orchestrated

into an orbiting panorama by a journey that has already culminated to where it started: A

loophole on the skyline.

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GRAVITY AT WORK

3-D software is implemented

as a tool for analysis of spatial

conditions and transformations

in time. The parallel construction

of a physical model and its

counterpart in the digital realm

fosters an understanding of

structures and forces. at work.”

des ign

process

ENTREE ALPINE

The second semester of the academic

year 2008/2009 was a continuation of

our investigations on altitude.

We developed a project in a mountainous,

alpine condition in several resolutions at

different scales. First, a series of mountain

passes were looked at and transformed

into panoramic site models. Subsequently

the program of Entrée Alpine has been

introduced as a first step towards a project

proposal: the design of an Alpine Motel.

After the Entrée Alpine phase 16

proposals have been evaluated in a jury

with external experts in a public review.

Several proposals served as the basis for

a ‘one to one’ structure to be erected in

Zermatt at an altitude of 2536m as a part

of the Zermatt-Festival.

This booklet shows the studies on

geometry, scale, materiality and structural

performance. The Entrée Alpine group of

10 students finally settled on a design

based on the figure-8 Klein bottle

equation. The project was erected in

summer 2009.

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Studies on geometry and structural systems

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Studies on scale

Physical models

First mock-up

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Conceptual model of opening

Physical model 1/10

Mock-up at EPFL

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PO

SS

IBLE

SIT

E 3

POSSIBLE SITE 1

PO

SS

IBLE

SIT

E 2

Revolver is a panoramic public installation, designed for the hikingarea of the five lakes about 1000m above Zermatt. Its timber andmetal structure holds a double circulation that forms a singlelooped path. Along this path, a continuous frame spins around theviewer, giving her or him an always shifting relation to the surroundingspace conditions.This dynamic approach of the classical Zermatt panorama engagesboth vision and the moving body in order to extract a new experiencefrom the overwhelming site.

360° panoramic path

720° panoramic path with elevation

360° sweeping opening along path

360° vertical panorama360° horizontal panorama

MANIFESTO

ORTHOPHOTO

MAP

BUILDINGS

THE PROJECT AT 3 SITE PROPOSED

CLIFF

FOREST

GRASS

WATER / ICE

STONE

LANDCOVER

FUNICULAR / CABLE_CARS

ACCESS

PEDESTRIAN WAYS

SMALL ROADS

TRAIN

HYDROGRAPHY

TRANSPORTATION

SWISSNAMES

TRIAL & ERRORchronological proposals production

ALICEatelier de la conception de l'espacefabricate / week 15 / 1:1 entrée alpine : REVOLVERalice fabrication team :ahmed belkhodja, augustin clement, olivier di giambattista, nicolas feihl, eveline job, martin lepoutre, samuel maire, benjamin melly, adrian-llewelyn meredith, françois nantermod

Z-SCALE ANALYSIS

01m

02m

00m

00m

05m

OPENING

CURCULATION SLOPE

BOUNDING BOX

SPACE LIMIT

CIRCULATION

OPENING

STRUCTURE

BRACING

PROPOSALPROPOSAL

SHAPING CONCEPTIONscale 1 : 100

GEOMETRY CHRONOLOGYscale 1 : 100

TRUSS 01 02

03

04

05

06

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09

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1213

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24PLAN scale 1 : 33

ALICEatelier de la conception de l'espacefabricate / week 15 / 1:1 entrée alpine : REVOLVERalice fabrication team :ahmed belkhodja, augustin clement, olivier di giambattista, nicolas feihl, eveline job, martin lepoutre, samuel maire, benjamin melly, adrian-llewelyn meredith, françois nantermod

FRONT VIEW scale 1 : 33

RIGHT VIEW scale 1 : 33

Presentation drawing documenting design process and site search

Across and following pages: final project in flat ground condition trusses and studies on skin materialisation

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ALICEatelier de la conception de l'espacefabricate / week 15 / 1:1 entrée alpine : REVOLVERalice fabrication team :ahmed belkhodja, augustin clement, olivier di giambattista, nicolas feihl, eveline job, martin lepoutre, samuel maire, benjamin melly, adrian-llewelyn meredith, françois nantermod

AXONOMETRIC DETAIL scale 1 : 33TRUSS 06

VERTICAL RIBS STRUCTURE scale 1 : 100

MATERIALITY :

perforated metallic sheet

thin fabric filter

TRUSS 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

TRUSS 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

AXONOMETRIC DETAIL scale 1 : 33METALLIC SKIN = BRACING

AXONOMETRIC DETAIL scale 1 : 33TEXTIL SKIN + WOOD BRACING

back-up plan

MOCK-UP DETAILMOCK-UP DETAIL

MOCK-UP DETAIL

MOCK-UP DETAILtextil fixation

MOCK-UP DETAIL

ZOOM-IN scale 1 : 10

DETAIL SECTIONscale 1 : 10

DETAIL SECTIONscale 1 : 10

ZOOM-INscale 1 : 10

ZOOM-IN scale 1 : 10

ALICEatelier de la conception de l'espacefabricate / week 15 / 1:1 entrée alpine : REVOLVERalice fabrication team :ahmed belkhodja, augustin clement, olivier di giambattista, nicolas feihl, eveline job, martin lepoutre, samuel maire, benjamin melly, adrian-llewelyn meredith, françois nantermod

TOP VIEW scale 1 : 33 AXONOMETRIC VIEW scale 1 : 33

INTERIOR SPACE vertical panorama

INTERIOR SPACE horizontal panorama

SECTION A - A scale 1 : 33

SECTION B - B scale 1 : 33

SECTION C - C scale 1 : 33

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assemblyFROM EPFL TO ZERMATT

Evolver was partially prefabricated in Lausanne

at EPfl+ECAL lab and at EPFL. The trusses

were then transported to Zermatt Stellisee to

an altitude of 2536 meters above sea level.

The Entrée Alpine group erected the structure

in a joined effort in a three weeks period in

August and September and was inaugurated

at the Zermatt Festival 2009 .

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TransportThe first trusses erectedEvolver evolving

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evolver

ze rmat t s te l l i see

2009 / 2010

Photos by Joël Tettamanti

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team

acknowledgments

a l i c e s t u d e n t s 2 0 0 8 / 2 0 0 9

Alexandria Ming Aerni, Ahmed Belkhodja, Augustin Clement, Samuel Devanthéry, Lionel Epiney,

Nicolas Feihl, Olivier Di Giambattista, David Jenny, Eveline Job, Elias Kesselring, Jonas Läubli, Martin

Lepoutre, Samuel Maire, Lukas Manz, Benjamin Melly, Adrian Llewelyn Meredith, Youcef Mezzour,

François Nantermod, Julien Prudhomme, Korab Ramadani, Fabian Roth, Gabriela Schär, Danny Te

Kloese, Barbara Thüler, Hadrien Tricaud, Tom Doan Tuan, Vy Pham Thi Hoang, Simon Wälti, Anina

Weber, Carole Westhoff

a l i c e t e a m

Dieter Dietz, Aline Dubach, Eveline Galatis, Olivier Ottevaere, Daniel Pokora, Isabella Pasqualini, Katia

Ritz

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t e a c h i n g t e a m Katia Ritz, Daniel Pokora, Olivier Ottevaere

d e s i g n a n d f a b r i c a t i o n g r o u p

Ahmed Belkhodja, Augustin Clement, Olivier Di Giambattista, Nicolas Feihl, Eveline Job, Martin

Lepoutre, Samuel Maire, Benjamin Melly, Adrian Meredith, François Nantermod

p h o t o g r a p h y Joël Tettamanti

t h i s p r o j e c t w o u l d n o t h a v e b e e n p o s s i b l e w i t h o u t t h e s i g n i f i c a n t c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f t h e f o l l o w i n g s p o n s o r s a n d i n s t i t u t i o n s :

ENAC Faculty, EPFL Lausanne; Institute of Architecture, IA EPFL Lausanne; Zermatt Festival; Zermatt

Tourismus; MGB, Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn; ZBAG, Zermatt Bergbahnen AG; Burgergemeinde

Zermatt; Archeotec SA Groupe Archidata, Epalinges; Bossard Groupe, Zug; Scierie de Cornaux SARL;

Boissec, Ecublens; Jallut peinture, Bussigny

s p e c i a l t h a n k s t o :

Daniel Luggen, Director Zermatt Tourismus; Marc Parlange, Doyen ENAC EPFL; Giorgio Margaritondo,

Vice President EPFL; Nicolas Henchoz, Director EPFL+ECAL lab; Ines Lumunière, Director SAR, EPFL;

Bruno Marchand, Director IA, EPFL; Olivier Feihl, Director Archeodata; Team Bergrestaurant Fluhalp;

Helge von Giese; Eveline Galatis, ALICE lab EPFL

f o r t h e i r w i d e s p r e a d s u p p o r t .

ht tp ://a l i ce .epf l . ch/