Entitled "Towards Bioclimatic Cities", the Forum des transitions urbaines will be held on September 12, 2025 in the Auditorium of Microcity, a branch of the EPFL in Neuchâtel (Switzerland). Organized jointly by the Ecoparc Association and the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in partnership with the journal TRACÉS, the biennial event will approach this crucial theme for our built environment from different angles. online registration

13.06.25 - Joan Rey tested the reliability of commercial tools and artificial intelligence to measure and predict radon levels in buildings for his doctoral thesis in civil engineering. He shares his conclusions in a column that appeared in three Swiss dailies. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas and a common indoor-air pollutant. It poses a significant public-health risk in Switzerland, as it’s found in just about all our buildings and is responsible for nearly 300 lung-cancer deaths each year. The Swiss authorities began making a concerted effort in the 1990s to reduce residents’ exposure to radon gas. Because the …

11.03.25 - EPFL’s School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) has introduced a new master’s program in urban systems that will start this fall. The goal is to train experts who are capable of implementing sustainability-oriented approaches for urban planning and development. By rethinking their approach to managing and developing urban areas, city officials can play a role in responding to modern-day challenges such as climate change, the depletion of natural resources and the impact of manufacturing and other anthropogenic activities on the environment and human health. The goal of ENAC’s new master’s program in urban systems is to …

30.12.24 - The passing of David Jolly, architect and Professor at the Universidad EAD PUCV in Valparaíso, Chile, marks an immense loss. His stance, his remarkable body of work, and his research in the Ciudad Abierta in Chile deeply inspired students of EPFL. David Jolly: The intellectual and teaching legacy of the Open City movement The passing of David Jolly, architect and Professor at the Universidad EAD PUCV in Valparaíso, Chile, marks an immense loss. As the last guardian of the legacy of the Open City movement, his ethical and intellectual stance, his remarkable body of work, and his research …

17.12.24 - For her PhD thesis in architecture, Fiona del Puppo looked at the challenges young people face finding somewhere to live after leaving university. She outlines her observations in a column published in the Swiss French-language press. As part of my PhD thesis at EPFL’s Laboratory of Urban Sociology (LASUR), I looked at how the housing market is evolving in step with broader societal changes. My research, based on interviews with young people living in Geneva, shows that university leavers face unprecedented challenges when it comes to finding somewhere to live – and that the uncertainty associated with this …

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.