The Sustainable Buildings and Construction Summit 2026 (20-22 April, Lausanne, Switzerland) convenes government officials alongside academics, private sector leaders, financiers, and civil society—converging policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to translate global sustainability commitments into practical solutions. Co-organised by EPFL and the UNEP-hosted Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, the Summit aims to accelerate the transition to a resilient built environment worldwide, with particular focus on emerging markets and developing economies where built environment growth is most significant.The Summit will include thought-evoking keynotes, cross-disciplinary workshops, academic showcases, and solution-focused roundtables on themes such as upfront embodied emissions, climate resilient construction, circularity, affordable …

La santé mentale en milieu urbain est devenue ces dernières années un domaine de recherche où se sont nouées de nouvelles alliances intéressantes et controversées entre les sciences de la vie et les sciences sociales. D'une part, au cours des vingt dernières années, un nombre croissant d'études en psychiatrie ont porté sur les dimensions urbaines de la psychose (« urbanicité »). Ces recherches ont progressivement dépassé les formes classiques d'épidémiologie spatiale pour étudier la santé mentale en milieu urbain in situ, en utilisant par exemple des évaluations instantanées réalisées à l'aide de smartphones. D'autre part, s'appuyant sur des travaux antérieurs …

MAIO, ANNA PUIGJANER Opera Aperta Opera Aperta, this lecture by Barcelona-based architect, researcher, and MAIO co-founder Anna Puigjaner presents recent work on alternative and inclusive domestic architectures. Challenging assumed architectural “normality,” the talk argues that the discipline has produced unequal spatial regimes tied to heteronormative models of living. In response to ecological and social precarity, Opera Aperta frames architecture as a living practice of repair, care, and stewardship—extending beyond buildings to communities and ecosystems. Anna Puigjaner (she/her) is a PhD architect and researcher, co-founder of MAIO, an architectural office based in Barcelona. Her work, linked to feminist studies, is focused …

19.03.26 - Within the framework of the ADHER studio, dedicated to the design of a future Student Center on EPFL’s historic campus, the Archives de la construction moderne were mobilized as an active design tool. During the month of March, the mobilisation of the Archives de la construction moderne (ACM) at EPFL, within the framework of the ADHER studio, takes place within a broader reflection on the role of architectural archives in contemporary design processes. This initiative is part of the Spring 2026 semester, marked by a reflection on a future Student Center and bringing together several studios – ADHER, …

16.03.26 - The master's project by Zélie Cortès, carried out at the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST), is one of the winners of the Prix Durabilis 2025, a joint award of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Université de Lausanne (UNIL). In the context of urban transition, her work presents an architectural approach to the adaptation and rehabilitation of residential complexes in the face of socio-climatic vulnerabilities. By 2060, multiple built-up areas will face unfavorable bioclimatic conditions due to urban heat. In this context, caring for and adapting our existing buildings—even the most ordinary ones—has …

11.02.26 - On the occasion of the fourth edition of the Master Prize in Architecture, awarded by the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA), two projects from EPFL Architecture received an Honourable Mention, recognising the quality and commitment reflected in these diploma projects. Among the awarded works is the project by Léa Guillotin, Re-fabricating Sévelin: The Image of Industry in the City Centre. Located in Lausanne’s Sévelin district—today largely shaped by the service sector—the project questions the role of industry in the contemporary city in light of current ecological and logistical challenges. Building on the last remaining industrial complex …

The Summer Workshop explored the structural, architectonic, environmental, and social dimensions of TRC and its application, particularly in the context of school programs in the Global South, where it serves as a socially and environmentally sustainable “lightweight” material. Building upon the TRC Prototype Pavilion initiated in 2019 at EPFL Fribourg and previous research by Brazilian architect Lelé on Argamassa Armada (ferrocement), the summer workshop aimed to craft full-scale (1:1) Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC) elements for a new secondary school in Somaliland, Africa, a project led by Urko Sanchez Architects, based in Kenya. Additionally, we aim to facilitate knowledge exchange between …

Proving that reused concrete components are reusable again! At the heart of Lausanne’s museum centre last month, I was privileged to showcase new structural and spatial possibilities using the same structural elements used in previous demonstrators of Maxence Grangeot's PhD thesis at SXL and CRCL. These prefabricated wall elements made from concrete rubble, originally fabricated in collaboration with Prelco, were disassembled from the tower configuration, and combined again with cut concrete slabs, into a pavilion whose structural layout and connections were validated by NFIC, and installation carried out in collaboration with Marti. This public pavilion has been exhibited as part …

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.