Jean Tschumi Designer

27.02 → 26.04.2026

Henri Germond, Ground floor of the main building with a view of the park

© Archives of Vaudoise Assurances, Lausanne Photo : Henri Germond

The mudac is inaugurating its new exhibition space, Le Carré, with “Jean Tschumi Designer.” This exhibition, produced in collaboration with Vaudoise Assurances, focuses on a particular aspect of the great Swiss architect's work: his furniture designs for Le Cèdre, the headquarters of Vaudoise Assurances in Lausanne.

Exhibition

With the headquar­ters of Vaudoise Assur­ances in Lausanne, Jean Tschumi created a true archi­tec­tural master­piece. His design, both rigor­ous and nuanced, aspires to trans­par­ency, light­ness, and open­ness. It is a total work of art, where archi­tec­ture, art, and design come together to form a whole of rare harmony and excep­tional qual­ity. As part of the restor­a­tion of this iconic build­ing, Vaudoise Assur­ances commis­sioned Swiss studio BIG GAME to reis­sue the furniture designed by Tschumi specific­ally for the site.

The Jean Tschumi Designer exhib­i­tion presents these reis­sues—arm­less chairs, a round marble and iron table, office chair, small table—­man­u­fac­tured by the renowned Swiss furniture maker Girser­ger (foun­ded in 1889), along­side the original pieces care­fully preserved by Vaudoise. These sets are accom­pan­ied by extens­ive docu­ment­a­tion (photo­graphs, films, archival docu­ments) tracing the genesis of the project and the design­er’s think­ing. Archival mater­i­als from the period place the furniture in its original context, while contem­por­ary docu­ments shed light on the chal­lenges involved in reis­su­ing it: adapt­a­tion to current produc­tion meth­ods, mater­ial and aesthetic require­ments, and contem­por­ary stand­ards.

Curation Jolanthe Kugler - mudac Nathalie Bender
Scientific collaboration Diane Maechler - mudac
Scientific council Catherine Othenin-Girard
Exhibition design Magali Conus - mudac Timo Walther - mudac
Graphic design Notter + Vigne

Le Carré

Le Carré, mudac’s new exhib­i­tion space, covers approx­im­ately 90 m². It offers the museum greater flex­ib­il­ity, allow­ing it to respond quickly to current issues, present works from its collec­tion, host external projects, and design more intim­ate formats, in addi­tion to its large-scale exhib­i­tions that require lengthy prepar­a­tion. Designed as a true labor­at­ory for exper­i­ment­a­tion, Le Carré allows mudac to take a stand on contem­por­ary issues while continu­ing its research work on the Archives du Design Romand.

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