ETH News

The new ETH Policy Fellowship aims to foster greater understanding between government and the academic world. Regina Witter from the Federal Office for Spatial Development was among the first cohort to take part.

Two years ago, Russia launched its war of aggression against Ukraine. One direct consequence of the conflict is the destruction of buildings and infrastructure. Now an exhibition in the ETH Main Building entitled “ETH with Ukraine” is showing how buildings, facilities and the environment in Ukraine can be protected or restored.

A doctoral researcher studying architecture at ETH Zurich is using 3D printing to produce lightweight insulation building components from cement-free mineral foams derived from recycled industrial waste. These could cut heating and cooling costs for buildings, and encourage more efficient use of construction materials.

An ETH Zurich architectural centrepiece – the machine laboratory– has been renovated. The historically significant machine hall has been extensively restored to its original condition. The renovation provides ETH with additional space for research and teaching.

Christophe Girot brought landscape architecture into the digital world and taught a generation of architects how to think on a larger scale. After more than 20 years as an ETH Professor, he is now retiring.

Maria Conen advocates the conservation and reuse of existing buildings – and not just for reasons of sustainability.

Densification is a fundamental principle of urban planning and development today. Nevertheless, it often encounters local resistance. A group of ETH researchers has now systematically investigated factors influencing public acceptance of densification, focusing on the canton of Zurich and six cities of global importance. One key factor: affordable housing.

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder – yet how do we find consensus on a shared amenity such as a neighbourhood? We took a stroll with two ETH architects to discover how they see their role as mediators between the conflicting priorities of urban consolidation, functionalism and aesthetics.

An exhibition in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, features ETH Zurich architects who show their vision of utopia - a vertical city built by drones, developed in 2012. Along with computer scientists, they have now populated the structure with autonomous avatars.

After 15 years as Professor of Architecture and Construction, Annette Spiro recently retired to become professor emerita. Her lectures and publications inspired a whole generation of architecture students at ETH Zurich.

With the help of artificial intelligence and four collaborative robots, researchers at ETH Zurich are designing and fabricating a 22.5-metre-tall green architectural sculpture.

The 23-metre-high tower made of 3D-printed columns is to become a cultural site in Mulegns, a village on the Julier Pass with just 16 inhabitants. The structure is being planned by ETH architects and engineers. Construction is scheduled to start in spring 2022 with robots printing the tower’s components on site.

A cultural landscape reflects the combined activity of nature and humans. Where has the equilibrium of this union been lost? And how can we restore the balance? 

ETH Professor Emeritus Anne Lacaton and her partner Jean-Philippe Vassal have received this year’s Pritzker Prize for their social and sustainable architecture. The prize is regarded as the Nobel Prize of the architecture world. ETH celebrated this success on Wednesday with a virtual event of honour, which was attended by ETH President Joël Mesot as well as the two prize winners.

Ten years ago, ETH took the bold step of establishing a presence abroad in the form of its very own research centre. This year, the Singapore-ETH Centre launched its third research programme – and new insights are already making their way back to Switzerland.

The Inga hope a university will keep their indigenous heritage alive, safeguard the natural habitat of the Colombian rainforest and give the younger generation a future. Anne Lacaton, Professor of Architecture and Design, spent two semesters supporting the project with her students.

The technology pioneered by the ETH spin-off incon.ai allows blocks to be positioned with pinpoint accuracy, creating structures with aesthetic designs and augmented acoustics.

What happens when COVID-19 means architecture students have to get by without a workshop, electrical engineers without high-voltage laboratories and environmental scientists without field trips.

Experimental epidemiology; bio-​inspired micro- and nanorobotics; ultrafast processes in materials; forest resources Management; construction heritage and preservation; social networks: the incoming professors work in a wide range of cutting-​edge research fields.

“It’s quiet in Singapore, it’s cooler – and you can make remarkable scientific findings right now,” says Gerhard Schmitt, Director of the SEC. The coronavirus crisis has turned the megacity into a giant research lab.

From autumn, ETH Zurich will offer a Master’s programme in Landscape Architecture – a first for a Swiss university. The demand for landscape architects is greater than ever, say professors Christoph Girot and Teresa Galí-Izard.

ETH Zurich is planning to step up its research activities in Singapore. It aims to extend its current Future Resilient Systems programme by five years and to launch a new programme, Future Health Technologies, in the coming year.

At the Architecture Biennial in Venice, a group of students, a colour artist, an architect and an ETH surface physicist will examine the symmetries of ornaments at the Basilica di San Marco. There will be an accompanying exhibition.