After the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (MUDAC) first opened its doors in 2000 at the Plateforme 10 space in the heart of Lausanne's arts quarter. There, MUDAC stands alongside museums Photo Elysée and Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts Lausanne in an urban cubic designed by Portuguese architects Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus and engineer Rui Furtado.

Today, MUDAC is the only museum in French-speaking Switzerland that is dedicated strictly to design. It has approximately 1,500 square metres of exhibition area and boasts more than 3,000 objects of narrative and industrial design divided into five areas: contemporary design, glass art, ceramics, jewellery and graphic art. The museum’s multi-disciplinary approach earned it international recognition, since it not only focuses on temporary exhibitions of craftsmanship but also offers its space to performing artists, photographers and musicians.