The Bale Laboratory

The Bale Laboratory, also known as laba, was an architecture and urban design studio at the Acole Polytechnique FA(c)dA(c)rale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Basel from 2011 to 2021. Chaired by Professor Harry Gugger, laba focused on investigating spatial design at the intersection of urban processes and architectural objects. Emphasizing that design occurs across all urban scales, laba's projects ranged from planning to detailing. The studio's theme of 'urban-nature' explored the evolving relationship between urban and natural environments, challenging traditional dichotomies and highlighting the coexistence of these two conditions. laba's teaching method aimed to redefine architecture as an environmental object, integrating buildings, landscapes, and urban elements within the broader ecology of spatial creation.