Wooden Structures at ETH Campus

Two new temporary wooden structures have been erected recently at the ETH campus in Zurich.

Spatial Aggregations 3, by Gramazio & Kohler:

A reciprocal frame structure, by Spiro:

Prototypical Institute Building at ETH Zurich

At ETH Zurich, currently a new prototypical building for the Institute of Technology in Architecture is being planned in a collaborative process among the members of the institute. An exhibition at Science City Campus, ETH Zurich, is presenting the current state of the project.

Video and image courtesy of ETH Zurich.

For the design of the roof, research conducted at the Chair of Structural Design has been combined with robotic fabrication processes developed at the Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication to design a lightweight wood construction. The structural engineers are Dr. Lüchinger + Meyer Bauingenieure AG.

The Sequential Structure 2, a prototypical pavilion developed at the Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication, served as reference for the roof construction.

Paremetric modelling strategies developed at the Chair of Structural Design allowed for the direct inscription of structural constraints into the roof geometry.

Cooperation: The Engineer and the Architect

This book, edited by Aita Flury, describes recent developments in the relation between architect and engineer in the design process, with focus on Switzerland and Germany. With contributions by Markus Peter, Adolf Krischanitz, Jürg Conzett, Mike Schlaich, Jospeh Schwartz and many others.

"This book provides a thorough description of just how varied and complex, how stressful and yet inspiring the cooperation between architect and engineer can be, and which projects become possible only through a cooperation of these two professions. [..] As such, it provides architects and students with the tools for future cooperation" (Birkhäuser.ch)


A snapshot of the realted panel discussion at the DAZ, on page 212/213.

Watch lectures by Fritz Neumeyer, Stefan Polónyi, Yves Weinand, Joseph Schwartz, and others, from the related symposium at the ETH Zurich online here.

Padua Pavilion at ETH

Yesterday evening, on the ETH Zurich campus, the Padua Pavilion has been opened. It is a structure made of recycled timber, developed and built in two weeks by students of the studio Tom Emerson.


Structural consultancy and live music by Marcel Aubert.

Computation for Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism

An upcoming symposium at ETH, Zurich: "The aim of this first symposium on computation for sustainable architecture and urbanism is to discuss information-based approaches that augment design processes and descisions towards sustainable buildings and cities." (SUAT)