Me and the Universe - embedded somewhere between no man’s land and natural landscapes

The urban nature of the landscape gradually diminishes between the center of the old town and the lakeshore, and this aspect is reflected in the concept of the Arteplage Yverdon-les-Bains project. The somewhat oppressive neighbouring industrial buildings and the railway embankment dividing the Arteplage from the town, prompted the architect team extasia to find a non-urban solution: the Arteplage is indebted to the local topography, which, in turn, is transformed into a new space, finishing as an expressive-organic architectural language. The interplay between the landscape and the architectural elements gives this location a beach character: a medley of varied objects washed ashore by the lake, arranged in the spirit of Land-Art and a water tower. 

The genius loci of the shore line: water, reeds and open spaces, made more coherent by a range of flower-covered hills, creates the atmosphere of a microcosm, a complete design, whose parallel can be found in the neighbouring nature conservation area of Estavayer-le-Lac. The stroke of genius: the Cloud over the water by Diller + Scofidio, which has become a homogeneous part of the Yverdon-les-Bains landscape. The misty morphology, which is in a constant state of flux, finds perplexing meteorological parallels. The clouds blowing over the Jura and the banks of fog greet the misty genius loci of Yverdon-les-Bains in many changing likenesses of the Cloud. 

Concept, architecture and design
Team extasia consisting of: 
Vehovar & Jauslin AG, Zurich www.vja.ch
Morphing Systems, Architektur & Ausstellungen GmbH (new: Holzer Kobler Architekturen GmbH) (Barbara Holzer, Tristan Kobler, Viola Thiele), Zurich www.holzerkobler.com 
West 8, landscape architects and urban planners b.v., Rotterdam, Netherlands www.west8.com
Diller & Scofidio, New York, United States (Authors of the Cloud) www.dsrny.com
Techdata AG, Bern (Stéphane Maye, coordination of team extasia) www.techdata.net