Lavaux UNESCO Vineyards: Effects of Heritage StatusTamino Kuny and Alexander Schmid

The Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, stretching for about 30 km along the south-facing northern shores of Lake Geneva from the Chateau de Chillon to the eastern outskirts of Lausanne in the Vaud region, cover the lower slopes of the mountainside between the villages and the lake. Although there is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the present vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area. It is an outstanding example of a centuries-long interaction between people and their environment, developed to optimise local resources and profiting from the “triple sun” effect: the rays from the sky, the rays reflected from the lake and the nightly release of heat captured in the vineyards walls during the day.

The protection of these exceptional vineyards dates back to 1977. As a reaction to the creeping urbanization from the growing towns of Lausanne, Vevey and Montreux, several political campaigns were launched upon which the canton Vaud created a constitutional law to conserve the landscape and its historic economy of wine growing. After a long submission procedure, protection by the UNESCO was finally granted in 2007. Now the Lavaux is one of eleven listed cultural properties in Switzerland. The world heritage status also brought about a very strict set of regulations on the development in the area. The heritage site is defined by two zones: a highly protected, and basically frozen, core zone between the lake shore and the break in the slope towards the north, housing most of the vineyards and villages. This central area is shielded by a “buffer zone” comprised of vines, pastures and forest patches.

The pristine terraces of Lavaux are an international tourist destination, attracting many related functions in the surrounding area: prestigious tourism academies and hotel schools for example, are scattered along the northern hillsides of Lake Geneva. With the complete suppression of development in Lavaux, the demand for urban expansion seems to have created an unintentional backside, stretching from Lausanne along the Riviera to Montreux and Vevey.

The Lavaux is the theatre of the Lac Léman. The topography creates balconies that open scenic views onto the lake basin. On the surface of the lake, the ever-changing play of the sun and the clouds is mirrored. In the theatre, both traditional events as the Fête des Vignerons and contemporary events take place. The theatre is used by everyone. By families, young and old people, by people from inside the Lavaux and from Lausanne or Vevey and by people from somewhere else. We use the metaphor to describe both a constant spatial order and how the Lavaux is temporarily played at.

We see that the urban sprawl has already occupied the balconies of the Lavaux. They are inhabited by few people who enjoy the privilege of the scenic view and the proximity to the vineyards as a metropolitan park in a single family house or villa. In this sense, the metaphor of the theatre also describes the spatial position and the land consumption of social classes.

We propose to densify these balconies in order to allow more people to enjoy the ever-changing play of the sun and the clouds. Low rise buildings of a terrace typology achieve a high density and a funiculaire connects the balconies to the urban life and the events down at the lake. The vineyards, the terraces accesible for everyone, and the villages, their cores, have to stay protected in their structure. Grandvaux is used here as a model for the other balconies.