Against Research–Decolonizing Research AR-693, 2 Credits 17 - 18 November 2023 9:00 CET; BP4234 - 4th Floor BP, Blue City Lab Chaired by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes with Kathlyn Kao "The academy needs the figure of the black: we are the analytical sites, the data, the experiment, the security guards, the cleaners, the administrative assistants, the nonnormative teachers, through which so much scholarship moves.” Katherine McKittrick. Dear Science and Other Stories. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2021. 'Decolonizing’, a term fashionably peppered across curricula, is a contested concept, weaponized and instrumentalized in political battles across global academia—and beyond. What does doing decolonized …

11.08.26 - What if robots were increasingly in need of us? Archizoom and the CRCL laboratory at EPFL propose an exhibition to invite visitors to rethink the automation of construction sites, exploring robotic arms, recycled timber and the confidence to co-create with increasingly intelligent machines. Despite decades of technological promises, construction remains one of the least automated sectors — and one where the physical demands of the work remain the most intense. In light of this, the CRCL – Lab for Creative Computation, led by Professor Stefana Parascho, is exploring a different approach. Rather than opposing robots and workers, this …

07.07.26 - Encouraging people to embrace alternatives to the car – still the dominant mode of travel in Switzerland – means factoring human decision-making into the equation. Swiss people are still deeply attached to their cars. Figures from the Federal Statistical Office bear this out: between 2005 and 2015, around half of all journeys were made by private motorized transport – a category that includes cars, motorcycles, scooters and similar vehicles. Even though Switzerland has an extensive public transport network, habits are seemingly slow to change, and they vary across the country’s cultural and language regions. In German-speaking Switzerland, where …

06.07.26 - For almost two decades, Luca Pattaroni has been studying alternative and countercultural communities at EPFL’s Urban Sociology Laboratory (LASUR). His research asks what these models of coexistence and collective living might teach the rest of society. When asked what question drives his work, Luca Pattaroni, who co-heads LASUR at EPFL, is unequivocal: “How do people and communities, with all their diversity and differences, learn to live side by side in a city?” Pattaroni specializes in what are often labeled the “margins” of society. Yet he sees alternative communities, countercultural movements, activist and artistic circles, squats, the homeless, migrants …

“Rhythm is not a measurement: it is a vision of the world.” Octavio Paz An exploration of how to navigate the demands of modern life through the lens of rhythm. We live in a world increasingly saturated – with signs, norms, objects, and demands – and that overstimulation contributes to our daily sense of alienation. In this manifesto, the authors argue that the path to emancipation lies in our capacity to reclaim political agency over our rhythms, both individual and collective. A Manifesto for a Rhythm Politics explores the fundamentally spatial and territorial dimensions of time, as well as the …

À l’heure où l’urgence climatique impose de décarboner les transports, le report modal est devenu un objectif central des politiques urbaines. Les investissements se multiplient, mais les pratiques évoluent plus lentement que les discours et l’automobile demeure dominante dans la mobilité quotidienne. À partir d’enquêtes menées sur trente ans dans une vingtaine de villes européennes, principalement en France et en Suisse, Vincent Kaufmann propose une analyse sociologique des logiques qui sous-tendent le « choix » modal. En identifiant huit grands types de rapports à la mobilité et en examinant les principaux leviers d’action – prix, temps, confort, sécurité, disponibilité, communication …

Beautifully designed publication. In the first 23 pages section you can tear off the pages so that the floor plans and drawings become readable. Between 2020 and 2023, 974 students beginning their studies at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne embarked on their architectural journey by engaging in a 12-week spatial, constructive, and conceptual investigation within the architectural tomography course. The course, led by Tiphaine Abenia and Jo Taillieu and held in the LIF laboratory, resulted in the investigation of 44 houses over four years. Architectural tomography, as a conceptual and operational device, has the capacity to reveal the spatial and …

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.