Events
The Architecture Hub gives access to the latest news of EPFL Architecture within the ENAC faculty, as well as presenting teaching and research programs, governance and people at the core of the community. The organizational structure of EPFL Architecture and the EPFL ecosystem is described in the glossary.
28.11.25 - The EPFL Architecture Studio TEXAS project was awarded the Swiss Arc Award 2025 in the Next Generation category. Congratulations to all the students and the teaching team involved for their outstanding work ! Hétérotopies Taking as a starting point the concept of heterotopia developed by Michel Foucault, the students envisioned the transformation of a housing block built in 1955 in Sarcelles, on the outskirts of Paris. With a careful and committed approach to preserving this modern heritage, they explored ways to extend the spatial and material qualities of these dwellings. Each group developed a collective housing project based …
13.10.25 - The mutual recognition agreement for professional qualifications for architects in Switzerland and Quebec became effective on 1 October 2025. In 2022, an initiative was launched under the auspices of SERI (State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation) with a view to signing a mutual recognition agreement on architectural education between Switzerland and Quebec; This is intended to facilitate access to the professional market for architects whose professional qualifications have been recognised in either territory. After a preparatory phase of collaboration between Swiss architecture schools (EPF, HES and Accademia de Mendrisio) to describe the various training programmes and conditions …
01.10.25 - The TRC-LC3 Prototype Pavilion, developed at EPFL Fribourg is exhibited at the 14th International Architecture Biennale of São Paulo. By exploring the structural, architectural, environmental, and social dimensions of TRC-LC3, the research highlights its potential for application in the Global South. The 14th International Architecture Biennale of São Paulo (@bienaldearquiteturasp) for an Overheated Planet, EXTREMOS, places an urgent question at the center of the dialogue: what is the role of architecture in a world facing extreme climate events and the very limits of human life, with the point of no return looming on the horizon? In line with …
01.09.25 - If you’re looking for Yves Pedrazzini, you’ll probably find him on the streets or at a local punk-rock club. The winner of the 2024 best teacher award for the architecture section has led a wide-ranging, uncompromising career marked by real-world experience with people from all walks of life. It might be tempting to say that Yves Pedrazzini’s eclectic career lacks coherence. But look more closely and a common thread emerges – one that makes his choices seem perfectly logical, even organic. All the pieces fit together in a way that feels almost natural. Previously a senior scientist at …
Water design is of major importance today. The risks associated with water and climate change are a cause of global concern. The number of projects dealing with water-related issues is virtually endless, so pervasive that they play the role of connectors among coalitions of different players, disciplines, performances and ways of thinking. Water Designs, the title of the exhibition, considers not only water as a topic, but the project that water itself designs, according to its rationalities, logics and behaviours. The water project is the one that shapes our territories and our living space over the longue durée. Water is …
Industrial organizations have significantly shaped the relationship between urbanization and industrialization through their policies of constructing and managing urban spaces, as well as their social actions, with company towns representing an outstanding example of this influence. Often seen as remnants of history, some company towns still maintain an active presence in their original territories, significantly affecting the daily lives of their residents in the long term. At the heart of these projects, quality of life was a fundamental unit of measure alongside worker productivity. Reading these realities through the lens of biopolitics offers a perspective to examine how power was …
EPFL architecture graduates, Vincent Digneaux, Solène Guisan and Vincent Kastl, were crowned winners of the Sustainable is Beautiful student architecture prize for their modular footbridge over the Chamberonne river. Designing the structure, which serves as both a crossing and a meeting place, gave them their first taste of life as an architect. Several years ago, the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) at EPFL’s School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) launched Sustainable is Beautiful, a competition run in partnership with public and private organizations involved in green-transition projects, to help equip budding architects for their future role.
WINNER OF THE 2023 RIBA CHARLES JENCKS AWARD
The Dogma practice, founded in 2002 by Pier Vittorio Aureli, associate professor at the EPFL Architecture Department (ENAC), and Martino Tattara, has been awarded the prestigious Charles Jencks 2023 Prize by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Created in 2003 to reward an individual (or office) who has recently made a major contribution to both the theory and practice of architecture, this prestigious prize has distinguished architects such as Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron over the years.
Housing is a major contributor to Switzerland's carbon footprint and energy consumption, but it is also a basic need. Research on climate change mitigation strategies has so far paid insufficient attention to households' preferences and their contribution to housing sustainability. Depicting residential preferences requires an understanding of the multilevel, context-specific, and interrelated determinants of the match between households and dwellings, which are made explicit in the residential mobility process.
