mudac - Cantonal Museum of Design and Contemporary Applied Arts

The mudac, Cantonal Museum of Design and Contemporary Applied Arts (French: Musée de design et d'arts appliqués contemporains), is a museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, specializing in design, contemporary glass art, jewelry, ceramics, and graphic art. Founded in 1862 as the Musée industriel by Catherine de Rumine, it is the oldest institution of its kind in Switzerland. After multiple relocations and name changes, the museum reopened in June 2022 at Plateforme 10, a new cultural quarter, sharing a building with the Photo Elysée museum. Its collection is listed in the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Significance.

The museum originated as the Musée industriel, founded on 25 October 1862 by Catherine de Rumine (1818-1867), a Russian-born noblewoman, with scientific and educational guidance from Charles-Théophile Gaudin. The inaugural building on rue Chaucrau included a lecture hall and two galleries, inaugurated on 1 March 1862. Its purpose was to promote regional applied arts and educate workers and youth by demonstrating the transformation of raw materials into finished objects. After Catherine de Rumine's death in 1867, the museum was bequeathed to the city of Lausanne and placed under the direction of her son Gabriel de Rumine, who showed little interest. The institution declined until Arnold Morel-Fatio became conservator in 1875, shifting focus toward tools, machines, and local industry. In 1905, the collections were split. The decorative arts portion moved to the Palais de Rumine in 1909 as the Musée d'art industriel, while the practical industrial collections remained at rue Chaucrau and were eventually transferred to the École des Métiers in 1919. The Palais de Rumine museum underwent several name changes: Musée d'art industriel et décoratif in 1932, Musée d'art industriel et d'art décoratif in 1946, and Musée d'art décoratif in 1952. It relocated to Villamont in 1967, concentrating acquisitions on glass, graphics, ceramics, and jewelry. In 2000, the museum moved to the Maison Gaudard at Place de la Cathédrale, expanded its collections to include regional and international design, and adopted the name mudac. Chantal Prod'Hom directed the museum from 2000 to 2022, realizing more than 120 exhibitions. The museum closed at the Maison Gaudard in 2021 and reopened at Plateforme 10 in June 2022 under the direction of Marco Costantini, who has led the institution since 2023.

The mudac's collections specialize in design, contemporary glass art, jewelry, ceramics, and graphic art. The museum also maintains a particular focus on building a collection dedicated to Romandy design. Its holdings are registered in the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Significance (Category A), recognizing their national importance. The museum organizes approximately six temporary exhibitions annually, categorized as thematic exhibitions addressing current social debates, carte blanche invitations to designers to create personal exhibitions with their own scenography, and guest exhibitions from other institutions. The museum collaborates regularly with the Federal Office of Culture in Bern and presents the works of Federal Design Award winners every two years.

The museum's current home at Plateforme 10 is located on a former Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) site that the city of Lausanne acquired through a land exchange. After the demolition of the locomotive depot, construction of the new museum complex took place from 2016 to 2019. The Plateforme 10 cultural quarter, named after a railway platform, encompasses a total area of 25,000 m² with 6,300 m² of exhibition space, uniting three museums and two foundations.

The mudac building was designed by Portuguese architects Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus in collaboration with engineer Rui Furtado, constructed between 2018 and 2021. The structure measures 42 by 42 meters at its base, with an upper volume of more than 1,100 tons of concrete resting on three metal supports. A serrated band of glass doors and windows encircles the building. Following the concept "Un musée, deux musées" (One museum, two museums), the upper level serves as a "white box" with skylights for mudac, while the lower level functions as a "black box" below entrance level for the Photo Elysée.

The former location, the Maison Gaudard at Place de la Cathédrale, was a protected heritage building consisting of interconnected medieval houses that had been expanded in the nineteenth century and used variously as a school and official building before becoming the museum's home from 2000 to 2021. The outdoor area at Plateforme 10 preserves railway tracks, and the 17-meter-long, 7-ton sculpture "La Crocodile" by Xavier Veilhan and Olivier Mosset, shaped after an SBB Ce 6/8II or 6/8III locomotive, changes position according to site conditions.

The mudac is located at Plateforme 10 in Lausanne, Switzerland, sharing its building with the Photo Elysée museum. The two institutions share a museum shop, an 80-seat auditorium, a restaurant, and a café. The museum reopened in June 2022 with a doubled exhibition surface of 1,580 m². As of March 2025, the access area to Plateforme 10 was being redesigned, with the signal box building scheduled for cultural conversion in early 2026. The Plateforme 10 complex is directed by historian and curator Patrick Gyger. The museum can be accessed through its official website at https://www.mudac.ch/.