Georges Rigassi, the editor of the Lausanne Gazette, is vehemently against the building project and says it is an “insult to good sense and taste”. Designed by Lausanne architect Alphonse Laverrière and inspired by New York’s skyline, the 79 metre, 19 floor tower would be Switzerland’s first skyscraper. The building has divided the community and is […]
Whizz through Lausanne at street level
Lausanne-based visual artist Sylvain Botter created this fast-paced two minute time lapsed montage of Lausanne in Switzerland. If you don’t know the city this video gives a great feel for what it’s like by taking you down into the city and through the streets. Buckle up. It’s fast. For more stories like this on Switzerland follow […]
Fly like a bird over Lausanne and beyond
Lausanne-based Brosky Media created this stunning three minute video of Vaud’s capital city, Lausanne. Watching this it is easy to imagine why Lord Byron, who lived there from 1788 to 1824, James Mason, who lived there from 1963 to 1984, and Coco Chanel, who lived there from 1945 to 1971, all chose the city. Some […]
Switzerland’s 117 metre vertical forest
In 2017 a vertical forest will begin to rise from a building site located in Chavannes in west Lausanne. The tower will rise to a maximum of 117 metres and be covered with trees equivalent to around one hectare of forest. The tower’s designer is Milan-based architect Stefano Boeri. Already in Milan Two similar towers, […]
What is art for? Lausanne’s Mudac might have the answer
Last week I went to Mudac, Lausanne’s Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts’ and was fortunate to share a lunch table with both the Museum’s director Chantal Prod’Hom and Yves Mirande, the organiser of one of their latest exhibitions, to discuss what art means. The first thing that struck me when I arrived was […]
Lemanus Lacus or Lac de Genève – take your pick
Much breath is expended on discussions about Lake Geneva’s true French name. Is it Lac Léman or Lac de Genève? Discussions can become quite heated the further you go from Geneva. Many in Lausanne recoil at the idea of the lake’s name deriving from a certain town at the far and thinner end of Switzerland’s […]
The Lausanne Church that was targeted by thieves posing as beggars
Begging gangs in Lausanne are operating with increasing audacity and focusing evermore tightly on exploiting soft targets. “We’re used to having beggars pushing for money at the church door and even coming into the church hall to steal money, hats and coats.” A Swiss member of the congregation told Le News. “This episode, however, was […]
Lausanne plunged into darkness
20 Minutes. Just before 8pm last night, the centre of Lausanne was plunged into darkness when it was cut off from the electrical grid. A significant part of the Montchoisi area below Lausanne’s main train station was without electricity for nearly three hours. 200 buildings were affected. The outage, which was caused by an exploding […]
Growing crowds at Lausanne soup kitchen
Tages Anzeiger. Some might imagine there is little need for soup kitchens to feed the poor in Lausanne. Philippe Reichen, writing for the Tages Anzeiger, describes life at “La Soupe Populaire”, a soup kitchen in Lausanne which feeds around 200 people every day. “La Soupe Populaire” has been enormously popular for years. In 2008, when […]
Is Lausanne One of The World’s Top Cities?
While perusing the racks at the local magazine shop, your loyal Happy Valley Correspondent was delighted to come across the latest edition of Monocle magazine. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Monocle, it’s a very glossy periodical, with many nice pictures. It describes itself as “a briefing on global affairs, business, culture and […]