(Re)branding the Flon identity: A Swiss Youth Embassy_Flon ... - EPFL

The identity of the Flon district is inherently related to its topographical situation, and can be
demonstrated with difficulty without an image or model describing its nature. In the words
of Bernard Tschumi, in his anonymous competition presentation for the future development
plans of the Flon district, he speaks of Lausanne and its relationship to the Flon district:
“The topograpical configuration of Lausanne reverses all relationships that are normally associated
with streets and adapted spaces. In the urban development of Lausanne, one has experienced
a historical situation in a “shift” of space conception. Streets are literally “hung”, houses are buried into
the earth, roofs become ground floors, the “piano nobile” is spread over many different floors, buildings
become the passages between two different street levels, and bridges function as multi-level
intersections. To give a concrete example, as in the images of Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’, one enters a
building in Lausanne on the 6th level at the Pl. St. François, and exits below to the Rue Centrale.”
Flon presents, just as mentioned by Bernard Tschumi, an opportunity for the city to rethink
its identity. Most projects that have been presented until the present day, have been unsuccessful
in their attempts to restructure the zone, which will be looked at later in more detail.
Successful interventions have been those that propose to conserve at most
the historical infrastructure and built environment that exist to this day in Flon.
Lausanne-Flon ‘layers’
25.