The BCV Foundation has awarded Dominique Perrault for his project Groundscapes

On June 14th, the BCV Foundation awarded, as it does each year, a selection of projects that are notable for their modernity, innovation and accessibility.

For the last 22 years, the BCV Foundation (Banque Cantonale Vaudoise) in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, distributes three to four prizes per year, of a value between 300 000 and 400 000 CHF. This amount is split between three principle fields: scientific, social and cultural.

For the project Groundscapes, Dominique Perrault received 120 000 CHF in the scientific category.

Groundscapes highlights notions of underground landscapes, creating an underground urbanism that densifies and transforms urban life. To quote Dominique Perrault, “the Groundscape is studied as a landscape of another nature, a resource that prolongs and enlargens our world.”

This prize will allow Dominique Perrault to further explore and reflect on Groundscapes, together with his laboratory of subterranean architecture SUB-LAB at the Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne (EPFL). He has developed these ideas in his work over the last 30 years and in his studios at the EPFL where he is a professor in subterranean architecture.

With its support, the objective of the Foundation is to “sensitize the public to the potential of Groundscapes and to engage in a scientific and political reflection of this territory, and its potential in social and environmental studies.”

The BCV Fondation : https://www.bcv.ch/La-BCV/Actualite-et-medias/Actualites/2017/Autres-informations/La-Fondation-BCV-attribue-trois-dons-d-une-valeur-totale-de-CHF-360-000

The SUB-LAB : http://sub.epfl.ch/