ENAC Summer Workshops 2025 A Prototype Pavilion in Textile Reinforced Concrete August 25 - September 5, 2025, Fribourg The Summer Workshop will explore the structural, architectonic, environmental and social dimensions of TRC and its application, especially in the context of social housing in Latin America as a socially and environmentally sustainable “lightweight” material. Building upon the TRC Prototype Pavilion initiated in 2019 at EPFL Fribourg and prior research from the Brazilian architect Lelé in Argamassa Armada (ferrocement), our upcoming summer workshop aims to craft 1:1 TRC elements for Social Houses in Nicaragua. The teaching team has fostered a collaborative partnership …

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 …

03.06.25 - Switzerland's unique architecture competition guarantees anonymous, objective evaluation of architects. Does Switzerland’s approach really level the playing field and foster diversity? That's what Martin Peikert sets out to find out in his PhD thesis. He summarizes the issues at stake in this column published in three daily newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland. Switzerland’s system for running architectural design competitions has a number of distinctive features that set it apart from the ones used in other countries. Firms from any country can participate and, for reasons of objectivity, bids must be submitted anonymously. This approach is used in Switzerland for …

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 …

End of Year Show Spring 2025 Questioned and reevaluated, the very foundations of our disciplines find space for exploration, research, and critical dialogue within the design studios. The Semester Exhibition will open on Monday, May 26th. A lecture by BHSF Architekten will take place on Tuesday, May 27th, followed by an apero. Exhibition & Reviews Mo 26. May to Fr 30. May 2025 EPFL SG Building School Lecture Tu 27. May 2025, 18:30 BHSF Architekten Auditorium SG Exhibition Opening Apero Tu 27. May 2025, 19:30 Ada Lovelace Square

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 …

En aval du lac Léman, la ville de Genève profite d'une situation unique dans l'Arc lémanique. Le resserrement des rives du lac forme une rade que la ville structure jusqu'à reformer le Rhône qui devient alors son émissaire. Ce coeur liquide, ou temenos, selon la formulation d'André Corboz, est ancré dans la culture genevoise comme l'un des symboles majeurs de la ville. Depuis la fin du XIXe siècle, la rade entame une mutation de sa condition portuaire vers un espace de détente qu'elle peine à devenir. Ce projet a pour vocation de sortir les quais de la crise identitaire qu'ils …

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.