Prof. Dr. Philippe Block
Prof. Dr. Philippe Block
Full Professor at the Department of Architecture
Head of Institute for Technology in Architecture
ETH Zürich
Additional information
Research area
Philippe Block is a structural engineer and architect with multi-disciplinary research interests including history of engineering and design, computational form finding and structural optimization, masonry mechanics, architectural geometry, fabrication innovation and sustainable design.
Philippe Block was from 2009 to 2014 Assistant Professor (tenure track) and then until 2017 Associate Professor at the Institute of Technology in Architecture in the Department of Architecture. Since 2017 he is Full Professor of Architecture and Structure.
He completed his BSc and MSc studies in Civil Engineering-Architecture at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) in 2003. In 2005, he earned his SMArchS in Design & Computation from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), MA, USA, and obtained a PhD in Building Technology in 2009 at MIT.
Honours
| Year | Distinction |
|---|---|
| 2022 | VUB Honorary Fellow, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. A token of appreciation for commitment to helping spread VUB’s mission and values. |
| 2021 | DigitalFUTURES Fellowship, Shanghai. In recognition of leadership in advancement of computational design and fabrication technologies and commitment to knowledge dissemination. |
| 2019 | VUB Engineering Fellow. Bestowed upon unique personalities such as top-level company executive officers, visionary politicians or decision makers, and leading figures of civil society organisations to jointly strengthen the ties between Academia and Society. The Fellowship is the highest grade of membership for the VUB. |
| 2018 | Berlin Art Prize - Architecture (Baukunst). |
| 2018 | Rössler Prize. Awarded by ETH Foundation to a young professor from ETH Zurich for scientific excellence and distinguished achievements in research and teaching |
| 2012 | The Edoardo Benvenuto Prize for scientific research on the History of Structural Mechanics and Art of Building. |
| 2010 | The Golden Owl, awarded by the ETH Zurich Student Association for engagement and excellence in teaching at the Department of Architecture. |
| 2010 | The Tsuboi Award (with Dr. Tom Van Mele) from the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) for the best paper published in the Proceedings of the IASS Annual Symposium. |
| 2008 | Research Grant. Funding for five months of research at a German research institute. |
| 2007 | 5th IASS Hangai Prize. Winner of the International contest for innovative research papers (under thirty) related to the field of shell and spatial structures. |
| 2003 | Hoover Foundation Brussels Fellowship of the Belgian American Educational Foundation. Financial support for one year of graduate studies in the USA. |
Additional information
Philippe Block is also Director of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Digital Fabrication and head of the Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA).
With Foreign Engineering, Philippe Block and Tom Van Mele translate their research into practice, offering consultancy on structural geometry and computation, and the design, engineering and construction of novel sustainable structures.
He is furthermore on the Board of Directors of Holcim Ltd, and Chair of the Health, Safety and Sustainability Committee (HSSC).
Course Catalogue
Spring Semester 2024
| Number | Unit |
|---|---|
| 052-0604-00L | Structural Design II |
| 052-0646-24L | Methods in Structural Design. Discussions on Design, Research, and Construction |
| 063-0606-24L | Computational Structural Design II |