The ''École d'ingénieurs de l'Université de Lausanne'', from which EPFL in its modern-day form originates, was located in the center of
Lausanne. In 1974, five years after EPFL was separated from
University of Lausanne and became a federal institute under its current name, the construction of a new campus at
Dorigny in
Écublens, began. The inauguration of the first EPFL buildings of the new campus took place in 1978. The EPFL campus has been evolving ever since. The first stage of development, with a total budget of 462 million Swiss francs, was completed in 1984; the second in 1990. Construction of the northern parts of campus began in 1995 with the Microtechnology building (BM), completed in 1998, and the architecture building (SG), completed in 2000. In 2002, the department of architecture also moved to the campus in Écublens, uniting all departments of EPFL on the same site. The latest addition to the EPFL campus is the
Rolex Learning Center completed in February 2010. The Rolex Learning Center is the main campus library and includes areas for work, leisure and services and is located at the center of the campus. The campus has also been expanded with the construction of the
SwissTech Convention Center inaugurated in March 2014. As of 2022,
RTS began the construction of a regional production center on campus in collaboration with EPFL. Together with the
University of Lausanne, EPFL forms a vast
campus complex at the shores of
Lake Geneva with about 20,000 students combined. The campus is served by the
Lausanne Metro Line 1 (M1) and is equipped with an electric
bicycle sharing system. Since 2012, only electricity from certified hydroelectric generation is being bought by EPFL to power its campus. The university was the first campus to receive the
International Sustainable Campus Excellence Award by the
International Sustainable Campus Network. Of the 14,000 people that work and study at the campus, roughly 9.300 are students in either Bachelor, Master or Doctoral programs, the remaining 4,700 being administrative staff, scientists, technical staff, professors and the entrepreneurs located in the Science Park EPFL7. More than 125 nationalities are represented on campus with 48% of the student population being foreign nationals. Almost all of the structures are on its main campus. However, it also has branches in
Neuchâtel ("Microcity"), in
Sion ("Pôle EPFL Valais"), in
Geneva (
Campus Biotech, including the
Wyss Center for Bio- and Neuro-engineering) and in
Fribourg ("
Smart Living Lab"). There was also a research centre in
Ras al-Khaimah (
United Arab Emirates), EPFL Middle East, between 2009 and 2022.
Buildings The campus consists of about 65 buildings on . Built according to the growth of the school, the campus includes different types of architectures: • Late 1970s–1980s: modularised building, used today by the Schools of Basic Sciences and Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. • 1990s: buildings with institutes from the Schools of Engineering Sciences and Techniques, Computer and Communication Sciences, and the Scientific Park (PSE). • Modern: new buildings (2002–2004) with Microengineering, Communications and Architecture institutes, the School of Life Sciences and the College of Management. • The
Rolex Learning Center, a new library (2010). • 2014: The
SwissTech Convention Center and the "Quartier Nord" (convention center, student accommodation, shops...). • The EPFL-Pavilions building (previously Artlab), designed by Japanese architect
Kengo Kuma, was opened in November 2016; it includes three spaces opened to the public. The first one hosts archives from the
Montreux Jazz Festival; the second is a space for museum experimentations. The third space, named
DataSquare, hosts an exposition on
Big data, illustrated by two scientific projects from EPFL: the
Human Brain Project and the
Venice Time Machine. • Museums:
Musée Bolo,
Archizoom (EPFL). The EPFL and the
University of Lausanne share an active sports centre on the shores of
Lake Geneva, away from EPFL, about five minutes by car.
Associated campuses Beyond its main campus, EPFL operates a network of associated campuses in Western Switzerland, often sharing these spaces with partner academic institutions and hospitals: •
Fribourg:
Smart Living Lab •
Neuchâtel: Microcity •
Geneva:
Campus Biotech •
Sion: EPFL Valais/Wallis
Language Centre The Language Centre offers language and communication modules for French, German, Italian and English (
CEFR levels A1 to C2) to enable learners to participate more effectively in academic, professional and social situations in an internationalized multilingual and multicultural context. These modules are reserved for EPFL students, staff members and for their spouses. Tandems are also organized and set up within the framework of the Tandem Program of the Faculty of Arts/EFLE of the
University of Lausanne. This concept includes two people of different first languages meeting regularly to teach each other their respective language. == Students and traditions ==