IMD Executive Learning Center

This project called the new IMD Learning Centre is located at the heart of a growing campus, and serves as a strategic articulation between the existing part of the IMD complex on the east side and a future extension to the west, between a more traditional institution and new ways of learning through innovative technologies. Moving through a variety of spaces ranging from large auditoriums to smaller rooms dedicated to group work and discussion and provided with the latest technological means, the students experience learning as a creative process. A major architectural concern was to integrate the mass of the building to an intricate and relatively small site. The three main levels have been elevated from the ground, leaning on a natural hillside and suspended over the lobby area. The building floats above the park, allowing for people to pass through and preserving the views towards the surroundings and the lake. The “skin” of the building was conceived with the same ideas in mind, slightly reflecting the foliage of the trees and the sky, creating an effect of transparency and allowing for natural light to participate in the creation of remarkable learning spaces—transparent spaces open to their surroundings and in close contact with the world through technology.