SBB-Bibliotheken
A place where the journey does not end at the platform, but continues through the pages
Our proposal imagines a new type of library: no longer simply a static space dedicated to the
conservation of books, but the first node of a future Swiss network of libraries connected to railway
stations and former postal depots.
Located in the heart of Lausanne station, the library occupies spaces where letters and parcels once
travelled by train. Today, along those same tracks, stories and people continue to move.
Reading means travelling without moving. Through a book, we can cross eras, countries and
imaginary worlds simply by turning a page. The project is based on the meeting between these two
forms of travel: the physical journey of the train and the mental journey of reading.
The project is also linked to Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia. Foucault describes the library
as a place capable of bringing together different times within a single space, a place where past,
present and imagination coexist. Situated beside the railway tracks, the library reinforces this idea
by combining movement, memory and reading within the same environment.
The library is designed for two different types of users: travellers who quickly enter between two
trains to pick up a book, and people who choose to stay, read, study and spend time within the space.
The immense existing hall, marked by monumental concrete columns over six metres high, is
reinterpreted as an open landscape dedicated to reading. Natural light, introduced through large
light wells, organizes the interior into different atmospheres: more active and dynamic areas close
to the station, and quieter, more intimate spaces towards the centre.
The former postal tracks are reused through mobile bookshelves capable of transporting books
quickly near the entrances. In this way, the old postal infrastructure becomes a new cultural
infrastructure.
More than a simple library, the project proposes a new relationship between books, travel and
infrastructure across the Swiss territory.