The Bassenges organic farm on the EPFL campus in Ecublens (VD) will be definitively reassigned as a scientific center from 2026. The architectural competition was won by a Geneva office. As a result, the lease of the micro-farm operated by a collective was terminated.
“On January 16, EPFL met the Cambium collective, which currently exploits the land and uses the buildings of the Bassenges site, west of the school’s Lausanne campus. During this interview, she confirmed that she was going to proceed with the official termination, with effect from January 31, 2026, of the lease concluded in 2020 for a period of 6 years. The termination letter was thus sent on January 20”, indicates Thursday. EPFL in a press release.
EPFL has selected the winner of the architectural competition which was launched last July to renovate the historic buildings of the Bassenges site. This is the Eric Maria Architectes Associés SA office, in Cologny (GE), whose “Modi Operandi” project won over the jury. “It pays particular attention to agricultural buildings requiring rehabilitation work and which are protected by their inclusion in the cantonal heritage.”
“However, we will have to wait for the end of the appeal period relating to this award before we can communicate in more detail the contours of the project,” specifies the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne.
Three agricultural components
The architectural competition only concerns buildings and their surroundings, she adds. The land will remain entirely agricultural and protect biodiversity. A new call for tenders will be launched in order to find the operator(s) who will be best able to achieve the objectives of the EPFL management regarding these areas, underlines the high school.
The project is divided into three components: market gardening, urban nursery and historic garden. Note that arable land will continue to be cultivated. The same goes for the grazed orchards installed in recent years, it is still clearly specified.
The micro-farm, located in the town of Ecublens, was created in February 2020 on the agricultural land of the Lausanne university site. The farmers demanded “low-tech agriculture”, with very little mechanization, combining market gardening, arboriculture and closed-cycle breeding. They offer various local and organic products.
-The Cambium collective, tenant of the premises, is made up of six adults and two children living permanently on the farm. Two to three apprentices work there all year round as well as two other external people.
Petition and demonstration
Last June, he submitted a petition entitled “Let’s preserve the agricultural future of the Bassenges farm”, with more than 8,000 signatures, to the management of the EPFL. Nearly 300 people took part in a procession in the form of a symbolic human chain for the occasion. A smaller gathering took place again on Wednesday at the site.
>> Reread: EPFL wants to transform its ecological farm into a center for fundamental sciences
The petition demanded the abandonment of the reallocation of the Bassenges farm to the scientific center and the renewal of the agricultural lease to the current collective, as agreed in the lease on February 1, 2026. It also requested the registration of the agricultural function of the farm de Bassenges in the EPFL statutes. In vain. However, a collective action is not excluded.
It is therefore the Bernoulli Center for fundamental studies at EPFL (mathematics, computer science and theoretical physics) which will be installed there. In particular, this will involve welcoming into the building in the future schoolchildren and gymnasium students who follow Euler and Turing courses as well as scientists in residence.
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