Thonon lausanne bateau

Rendering of proposed tower. Photo: City of Lausanne/Pont 12 Architectes Opposition is mounting against a 27-storey tower proposed for Lausanne in a low-rise neighbourhood of the city. The Taoua, an 85-metre-high structure incorporating condos, rental apartments, a 200-room hotel and a rooftop restaurant near the Beaulieu convention and exposition centre, would be the tallest building in the Vaud capital. The project, advanced by developers Losinger Marazzi, is backed by a majority of city council but is opposed by a coalition of diverse interest groups and politicians. The coalition, including local neighbourhood associations and members of the Lausanne Greens, the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, the Green Liberals and La Gauche (a left-wing party), aims to put the project to a referendum. A referendum committee said it has collected 10,721 signatures which it plans to submit to authorities on Monday, well above the 8,443 needed to force a public vote. The … [Read more...] about Opponents bid for public vote on Lausanne tower

The city of Lausanne has set an April 13th date for a referendum on whether a proposed 27-storey tower block will go ahead in a low-rise neighbourhood. The municipality announced on Wednesday the date for a special stand-alone vote on the 85-metre Taoua building earmarked for a site next to the Beaulieu convention and exposition centre. The 100-million-franc project is promoted by developer Losinger Marazzi. Incorporating a 200-room hotel and rooftop restaurant with 80 condos and rental apartments, it earlier won support from a majority of city council. However, opponents collected more than 10,700 signatures to put the development, which would create the Vaud capita’s tallest building, to a public vote, well above the 8,443 needed. The group against the tower, including neighbourhood organizations and a cross-section of politicians, fear the tower would stick out like a sore thumb in an area on a slope overlooking Lake Geneva where the tallest buildings are no more … [Read more...] about Lausanne voters to decide on ‘tallest tower’

Proposed Taoua building. Photo: City of Lausanne/Pont 12 Architectes Lausanne voters have rejected plans for an 85-metre-high hotel, office and apartment tower near the city’s Beaulieu convention and exposition centre. In a referendum on Sunday, 51.9 percent of voters turned thumbs down on the proposed building, dubbed the Taoua, which would have been the tallest building in the Vaud capital. The 100-million-franc ($114-million) project, advanced by developers Losinger Marazzi, was backed by a majority of city council but opposed by a coalition of diverse interest groups and politicians. The 27-storey building was touted for adding badly needed housing units (90), as well as two hotels to serve the convention centre. But many against the Taoua felt it would have stuck out like a sore thumb in the relatively low-rise neighbourhood. “I regret this result for our project, which was good, but the people have decided,” Lausanne’s Mayor Daniel … [Read more...] about Lausanne residents vote against high-rise ‘Taoua’

Global powers were racing in Lausanne on Tuesday to reach the outlines of a deal to stop any Iranian bid to develop nuclear weapons. Here's a guide to what kind of agreement may be reached: The "framework" accord is meant to be fleshed out into a comprehensive agreement packed with complicated technical annexes by June 30th to end more than a decade of tensions with the Islamic republic.The goal: To reach a verifiable comprehensive agreement that limits Iran's ability to harness enough fissile material to build a nuclear bomb.Breakout time: World powers want to cut Iran's ability to build an atomic weapon to a "one-year breakout time." Enrichment: This is one of the trickiest issues. Several years ago, the international community wanted to deny Iran any capability to enrich uranium. Sanctions: Iran has publicly said it wants all sanctions imposed by the US, European Union and United Nations to be lifted. Research and development: Certain … [Read more...] about Lausanne talks aim to set Iran’s nuclear future

The video is a comment on the SVP's campaign poster, above. Photo: SVP It's not every day that shoppers in Lausanne see a bunch of people dressed as sheep running around the streets. Now a video of the event, created last weekend to protest at the Swiss People Party's (SVP) plan to expel foreign criminals, has gone viral, with over 667,000 views on Facebook. The video, filmed by a group of friends calling themselves Collective Bièvre, shows four white sheep chasing after a black sheep, mimicking the SVP's controversial poster which shows a white sheep kicking a black sheep out of Switzerland. However in the light-hearted video, when the white sheep catch up to the black, they embrace her in a group hug – and are quickly joined by several passers-by. The video ends with the slogan: “Don't be a sheep. You are not racist”. Since the group published their video on Facebook it has been viewed 667,000 times, has over 11,000 shares and hundreds of comments, … [Read more...] about Lausanne ‘sheep’ go viral in protest video