LAUSANNE.- "Design me two museums” was the request made to twenty-one international architects selected from a hundred and forty nine initial applicants. Their response was to offer many different proposals, encompassing a wide range of architectural approaches. The jury, consisting of professionals from the world of architecture and town planning, as well as personalities from the arts and culture, also drew on the expertise of spatial planners, museum specialists, economists and engineers. A pool of skills and experience enlisted to bring the project to fruition.

The jury, after lengthy discussions and debates, selected six projects for special distinction. More importantly, and by a unanimous decision, it took great delight in announcing what it considered to be the best proposal.

Alongside the new Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts, a fabulous project entitled “One museum, two museums”, by the architects Aires Mateus & Associados, will take shape.

An ingenious single outer shell comprising two parts, one devoted to photography (Musée de l’Elysée), the other to design and contemporary applied arts (mudac). Each in its own space, federated by a formidable reception area and meeting place forming a natural extension to the public esplanade.

Land occupied yesterday by the railways has today become a site devoted to culture in the heart of the Vaud capital and the Lake Geneva conurbation. “One museum, two museums” adds the final flourish to the design of a city district dedicated to the arts. An exceptional feat by anyone’s standards.

The decision to appoint the architectural practice Aires Mateus to construct the building that will become home to the future Musée de l’Elysée and the future mudac is the culmination of an ambitious project. It is also the first step towards creating a museum complex of international standing in Lausanne.

With its powerful and direct architectural approach, the project “One museum, two museums” fits the bill perfectly. In a single space it synthesizes the duality and complementarity of the two museums, located on either side of the bright dividing line which marks their shared entrance. This horizontal opening cuts across one end of the esplanade to create a spectacular focal point for visitors and travellers. The building’s iconic quality is more than just a visual attraction; the need to prioritise the functionality and quality of the space is clearly evident. The reception area for visitors will be directly accessible from the public square, the precise location of which between the Museum of Fine Arts and this new building can now be finalised. A forum in the true sense of the word, open on all four sides, the entrance hall will include all shared services: ticketing, bookstore, shop, library, multi-purpose room and cafeteria.

Landscaping of the terrain and roof will give this space a unique and warm connotation. A staircase leading to mudac and another to the Musée de l’Elysée will clearly signal the choice offered to visitors. The two exhibition areas will double the space currently available to each museum on their historic site. Equal in size for both institutions, they will provide generous and flexible modular spaces, allowing the seamless presentation of collections and the staging of temporary exhibitions. Storerooms and technical services on the lower floor will allow collections to be conserved under optimal conditions, while areas occupied by staff will lie to the north and west of the central building, which will be given over in its entirety to the public. The dawning of a new era that will delight art lovers and all those eager to make new and exciting discoveries.

One museum, two museums, three spaces. Two volumes contain an empty space that expands and contracts. A space always in contact with the exterior, where people can enter, pass through or wait. The covered area providing access to both museums.

Two geometrically honed bodies of concrete that meet, brush against one another and open. Lit from above or below, their light is subtle and selective. Between them, a floating space. The Elysée its base, mudac its vault.

Two museums and one prismatic space, with different services at its periphery. Blending with the contours of the terrain around the museum, the latter free up the space they need for their light, bringing a crystalline unity to the whole. “One museum, two museums” is the starting point. The idea that each entity is characterised by its own light and space. The idea that the value of the container as an object serves only to preserve that of its contents.

When the results of an architecture competition are announced there is always a quickening of the pulse as the jury makes known its decision. An emotion that is stronger still when the project, in this case the Museum Centre, is particularly close to our hearts.

Today the museums raised the curtain on the winning project, which between now and 2020 will see the emergence of the new Musée de l’Elysée and mudac. Inspection of its architectural and urban qualities, as well as its interior spaces, makes its appeal to the jury immediately apparent. The proposal by Aires Mateus offers the public a contemporary architecture that will enhance the future arts district with its elegance. Viewed in context with the building of the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts, this architectural tourde-force embodies the consistency, strength and simplicity to confer an iconic status. Today it gives us real pleasure to see this new Vaud institution take shape. The Museum Centre, unique in Switzerland, is a reality at last.

The jury of the architecture competition has chosen a project whose stature matches that of an ambitious undertaking. Now is an opportunity to highlight the contribution made by the city of Lausanne, and the challenges inherent in the project. While the Museum Centre is primarily a cantonal entity, the city has been closely involved as a partner: the freeing up of land for construction and the integration of the Lausanne museum, mudac.

The major interest for Lausanne lies in the creation of a cultural centre recognised at an international level in the heart of an evolving district. The challenge in terms of town planning – making the area around the station a new focal point of the city – reflects the huge benefits that the Museum Centre will bring to Lausanne in terms of the city’s profile. Together with international sport, culture reaffirms the international vocation of Lausanne and helps bring our city and its canton, and Switzerland as a whole, to an ever wider audience.