At the opposite end of the architectural spectrum from the ancient lakeside Roman settlement is Lausanne's ultra-contemporary new art zone, where designer-architects have created buildings that are not just 21st-century but border on futuristic.
The former area of 19th-century warehouses is now a lively quarter of dramatic and colorful buildings filled with shops, restaurants, business offices, designer galleries, and artists' studio space. Its central avenue opens into plazas where locals gather in good weather in cafés and on benches under a giant abstract tree.
