ECAL – University of Art and Design Lausanne
A decree of the Grand Council of the Canton of Vaud formalised the opening of a cantonal drawing school in Lausanne in 1821, the founding date ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne claims today. The school moved into the Musée Arlaud in 1841, took the name École cantonale d’art de Lausanne in 1986 and marked its bicentenary in 2021; it now occupies a former Iril pantyhose factory in Renens, renovated in 2007 by Bernard Tschumi.
The building gives ECAL almost 19,000 square metres, with three auditoriums, film and photographic studios, a model workshop, the elac gallery, a printing centre with lithography, serigraphy and engraving workshops, and a technology centre. A 2,000-square-metre EPFL+ECAL Lab, a teaching and research unit of EPFL, shares the site.
Teaching spans a foundation year, six bachelors in Fine Arts, Cinema, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Media & Interaction Design and Photography, and masters in Fine Arts, Film Studies with HEAD, Digital Experience Design, Product Design, Photography and Type Design, plus advanced studies in Design for Luxury & Craftsmanship.
Industry and exhibitions frame the work: Industrial Design students have interpreted the Swiss Army Knife with Victorinox, research on AI-generated images was shown at Paris Photo 2026, and collaborations with Google and La Becque travel to museums such as MuMAPS and the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur.