The local government of Lausanne held a competition in July 2010 to design a masterplan for a new 'eco quartier' on the site of the former Olympic Games. The brief was to create an exemplar of sustainable master-planning, that would showcase the most ambitious environmental design ideas possible.

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The ZEDlife's masterplan anticipates Lausanne's needs in 50 years time, whilst being able to work in 3 years. It is designed to deliver the carbon targets of 2050, understanding that Europe will be desperately short of electricity as peak oil, peak gas, and peak nuclear bite. Biomass and biogas will be the most expensive transport grade fuel and so will be better saved for food production and delivery rather than personal vehicles.

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​The challenging part of the project was how to combine this almost inevitable scenario with the need to create a beautiful walkable neighborhood today that responds to its unique position above the old urban quarter of Lausanne. The masterplan also responds to the need to maximize the land value in order to fund all the public transport and sports facility improvements that are required to solve the city's housing deficit.