Commercial building, Lausanne
With the textile character of its membrane skin, the “Miroiterie” retail building is an eye-catcher in the inner city quarter of Flon. It is located in a former industrial quarter from the era of incipient modernisation in Europe that has been transformed into a shopping and leisure boulevard during the past decade. Prominently located between the two main axes of the quarter and facing the central quarter plaza, the building, used as a sports retail store, features three visible facades. The ground floor is glazed, and the three upper floors are homogeneously covered by a structure comprised of three successive bands of triangular, inflated white membrane cushions that are only interrupted by the occasional glazed element. The translucent inflatable facade enables pleasant distribution of daylight in the interior. At the same time, due to its four-layer plastic foil construction, it effortlessly meets thermal insulation requirements.
