ETH News

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.

Catherine De Wolf firmly believes that digitalisation can help shift the construction industry towards a more circular economy. The assistant professor and her research group recently completed a hands-on project to illustrate how this could work.  

Climate change, pandemics and cyber attacks are risks that have long been in the public spotlight. But there are also risks that ETH researchers consider are still being given too little attention. Photographer Tina Sturzenegger has captured the scenarios on film.

Buildings that own and run themselves: this idea, from the think-tank Dezentrum, was put into action for the first time at ETH Zurich in the form of a prototype. The result is a meditation cabin that shakes up the usual economic and social expectations.

ETH Zurich is launching a new Centre for Augmented Computational Design in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, known as Design++. 22 professorships from multiple departments are joining forces to develop digitally augmented design tools with a view to improving the efficiency and sustainability of construction.

An 80-metre-high skyscraper made of wood is soon to be built in Zug. A pioneering project for which basic research is being carried out in the construction hall on the Hönggerberg.

Researchers from ETH Zurich investigated whether it would be technically and economically feasible for households to achieve energy self-sufficiency using photovoltaics alone in the temperate Swiss climate by the middle of the century.

ETH Zurich has won the Swiss Watt d’Or Energy Prize for its dynamic underground storage system at the Hönggerberg campus. Switzerland’s Federal Office of Energy has recognised ETH for energy excellence in the category of “Buildings and space”.

A solar façade developed at ETH Zurich combines electricity production with intelligent shading to achieve optimal energy balance.

DFAB HOUSE has officially opened today on the NEST building of Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf. It is the world's first inhabited "house" that was not only digitally planned, but also – with the help of robots and 3D printers – built largely digitally. The construction technologies were developed by ETH Zurich researchers in collaboration with industrial partners.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have fabricated an 80 m2 lightweight concrete slab at the DFAB House, making it the world’s first full-scale architectural project to use 3D sand printing for its formwork.

Will we be able to do away with the classic centralized energy supply in the future? From a technological perspective: yes. Distributed multi-energy systems are feasible. But from an economic and societal perspective, many questions remain unanswered, blogs Roman Seidl.

Earth is an ideal building material: it’s low-cost, saves resources and regulates indoor climates. What's more, earth is readily available in the places where people build. Yet the construction potential of earth remains undervalued.

Urbanization, the general shift from rural to urban living, causes the rapid growth of cities and represents one of the key challenges facing our society. Many epicenters of urbanization are in tropical regions, making the climatic context a central challenge for sustainable construction design.