A wooden roof without beams for the cantonal parliament in Lausanne

01. All wood, no beams: the cantonal parliament in Lausanne, which is currently being rehabilitated, will be roofed using new wood construction technology researched and developed at EPFL. It was a tall order: designing a rooftop for a 290-m2 parliamentary hall in the Vaud cantonal parliament, built atop 13th Century ruins, nested snuggly into the picturesque skyline of the old city of Lausanne.Located between the Château Sainte-Maire and the Lausanne Cathedral, the parliament hall, once inaugurated in 2017, will be endowed with a roof supported only by its base, a glazed atrium letting in natural light, and a gallery overlooking the conference arena for citizens and journalists. The novelty of the almost 15-meter tall roof lies in its beam-free design. Yves Weinand is the director of EPFL's Timber Construction Laboratory. But on the construction site in the historical center of Lausanne, he is the lead civil engineer. He represents his private civil engineering firm, which, together with a Lausanne and Barcelona based architectural practice, won the architectural competition for the renovation.