Greener, More Walkable Campus Is Coming To EPFL

The EPFL campus has continued to expand through projects, such as the ongoing Double Deck development, yet the outdoor spaces have never undergone a large-scale transformation of their own. That is set to change, with the Mobility and Outdoor Spaces team (MOBEX) - part of the Vice Presidency for Operations - and the Sustainability Unit recently unveiling the winning landscape design project. Dubbed "Arcadie," the proposal focuses on the two main arteries that cut through the campus: Avenue Auguste-Piccard and Route des Noyerettes. The latter road runs from east to west, just to the north of the RTS building and the Rolex Learning Center. "Route des Noyerettes dates from a time when the campus was designed around the car," says Emmanuel Tonetti, head of MOBEX. "It's been modified incrementally over the years, but never fundamentally rethought. As the campus grew, what was once a peripheral road gradually became a central one." The EPFL campus has continued to expand through projects, such as the ongoing Double Deck development, yet the outdoor spaces have never undergone a large-scale transformation of their own. That is set to change, with the Mobility and Outdoor Spaces team (MOBEX) - part of the Vice Presidency for Operations - and the Sustainability Unit recently unveiling the winning landscape design project. Dubbed "Arcadie," the proposal focuses on the two main arteries that cut through the campus: Avenue Auguste-Piccard and Route des Noyerettes. The latter road runs from east to west, just to the north of the RTS building and the Rolex Learning Center. "Route des Noyerettes dates from a time when the campus was designed around the car," says Emmanuel Tonetti, head of MOBEX. "It's been modified incrementally over the years, but never fundamentally rethought. As the campus grew, what was once a peripheral road gradually became a central one."

Arcadie was selected from three competing proposals and will play a key role in delivering on EPFL's 2030 Climate & Sustainability Strategy, which aims to make the campus a more pleasant place for people to live, work and study, while helping the site adapt to a warmer climate through increased biodiversity and a reduction in heat-island effects. "The proposal stood out for its clear, ambitious and coherent vision for the heart of the campus," says Adrian Wägli, Vice President for Operations and chair of the selection panel. "It manages to respect the site's history while rethinking its landscape and public spaces. The plan creates places that are easier to navigate and more welcoming and versatile, while successfully addressing the current and future challenges facing EPFL."

A campus designed for people, not parked cars

The redesign reflects changing travel patterns on campus. Both roads will be narrowed and transformed into 20 km/h shared spaces used by pedestrians, cyclists, public buses, and delivery and service vehicles. On-street parking will disappear, making way for flexible spaces that can be used for a variety of public activities, while traffic entering the campus from Route de la Sorge will flow in the opposite direction to today.

Along Avenue Auguste-Piccard, the project builds on what is already there rather than starting from scratch. Existing green spaces will be expanded and linked together to form a tree-lined corridor, with new plantings designed to complement both the original 1978 landscape plan and the more recent "50 years - 50 trees" initiative, which ran from 2019 to 2021. The road will also gain new public squares and a fountain, providing more shaded seating areas. Beneath the surface, the project will allow more rainwater to soak into the ground. On some terraces, for example, sections of concrete paving will be broken up, improving natural irrigation for the surrounding vegetation.

The changes will be more dramatic along Route des Noyerettes, which lies to the south of Avenue Auguste-Piccard. Instead of running in a straight line, the road will follow a gentle curve through the campus. "We're rethinking every inch of the space across its entire width," explains Alexandre St-Amour, project manager for outdoor spaces within the MOBEX team. The entrances to surrounding buildings will open onto a broad green space alongside the road, while a new square will be created on the north side of the Rolex Learning Center. Bicycle parking will be expanded and grouped in central locations, and new gravel paths will border the green spaces, offering pedestrians an alternative route through planted areas.

The new outdoor spaces will be designed to accommodate different activities throughout the day, such as studying, eating or taking a break in the shade. Large expanses of asphalt will give way to more permeable surfaces, and new habitats - from meadows and flowering grasslands to wetland areas - will help biodiversity thrive across the campus. The project will also make extensive use of reused materials, limiting the need for new ones wherever possible.

Work on Arcadie is expected to get under way in late 2027. The project will now enter its next phase, during which the design will be further developed and finalized ahead of the public consultation process.

Listening to the campus community

The brief for the project was based on a consultation launched in 2022 by the team that now forms MOBEX, which worked with the Design Studio on the Conception of Space (ALICE) and the Laboratory of Urbanism (Lab-U) - both of which sit within the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) - along with the Habitat Research Centre (HRC). The aim was simple: to better understand the needs of those who use the campus. One message to emerge clearly was that people wanted to make greater use of the outdoor areas for a wider range of activities. That feedback helped inspire the creation of more flexible public spaces. The winning proposal, Arcadie, marks the first stage of this transformation process.

"The redesign of Avenue Auguste-Piccard and Route des Noyerettes represents a major step toward a campus that's greener, easier to walk through and better adapted to a changing climate," says Agnès Le Tiec, who heads EPFL's Sustainability Unit. "The idea is to reclaim space from roads and give it back to the EPFL community, with an emphasis on trees, biodiversity and water management. That approach is fully aligned with the objectives of the School's 2030 Climate & Sustainability Strategy."