1:33/1:2 One of the most interesting public manifestations of learning in architecture are books about student‘s work. This lecture will present 1:33/1:2 new publication that showcases work by EPFL students. This book is exemplary in representing how learning architecture can be both a school reality and something that continues to inspire the architectural community at large. “About architectural tomography, about the importance of the drawing, about the book presentation 1:33/1:2, and about a special bookselling” Special book sale 1:33/1:2 will be available for purchase at a special reduced student price exclusively on the evening of the lecture. A special opportunity …

“To emphasize (...) dubious uses of risk is perverse, a dirty way of talking about a clean scientific subject” Mary Douglas, Risk and Blame, 36. As the baseline condition of so many territories shaped by extractive industries, administrative delay, and climatic instability, risk is prevalent. Yet ecological risk—pollution, fires, floods, heatwaves, droughts—is still presented as problems to be solved rather than conditions to be inhabited. This also speaks to an outsourcing of risk through externalized consequences of spatial injustice. Banks, developers, material supply chains, normative institutions, subcontracting hierarchies —all contend with calculated risk. This edition of Pressure Points asks us …

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 …

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 …

In July 2026, the Rolex Learning Center became a place of exchange around the Master Projects in Architecture at EPFL. Bringing together the final juries and the exhibition, the event offered a moment to reflect on a year of research, design, and experimentation, while opening this work to discussion with invited critics, faculty, students, and the public. The projects revealed a wide range of positions and methods. Developed independently, they nevertheless converged around shared concerns for contemporary architecture, engaging with questions of territory and public space, housing, industrial and cultural heritage, and architecture in mountain environments. Congratulations to all the …

In May 2026, the SG Building at EPFL hosted the End of the Year Show, bringing together the work developed across the Architecture's studios. Through models, drawings, research, installations, and debate, the exhibition offered a collective view of the diverse approaches that shape architectural education at EPFL. Rooted in a project-based approach that connects design with technical, social, and critical questions, the exhibited work explored contemporary ways of living, building, and imagining collective space. While each studio pursued its own methods and themes, together they reflected the breadth of investigations carried out throughout the academic year. Congratulations to all the …

Le cours interroge l’avenir des villages face à l'injonction de densification vers l'intérieur, inscrite dans la Loi suisse sur l’aménagement du territoire (LAT) depuis 2013. Si ce modèle s’adapte aux grandes villes et aux agglomérations, il apparaît moins pertinent pour les territoires villageois, caractérisés par une urbanisation discontinue et un fort lien au paysage. Ces espaces, dominés par le non-bâti et par une socialité de proximité, ont renforcé leur attractivité dans les contextes de crises sanitaires et climatiques. Ils disposent de ressources importantes pour la régulation environnementale et sociale, mais présentent aussi des fragilités, notamment en matière de mobilité et …

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.