Abstract: Construction robotics has historically been driven by the goal of full automation. Yet the inherent variability of construction tasks and environments, combined with the current limitations of robotic systems, has rendered complete automation largely unattainable. Humans, by contrast, possess a rich repertoire of skills - ranging from craft knowledge and adaptability to intuition and the ability to respond to unforeseen conditions in unstructured settings - that make them indispensable to construction work. We argue for a collaborative workflow in construction, one that leverages robots’ strengths in precision, load-bearing capacity, and endurance, while foregrounding human capabilities within intuitive and cooperative …

DES CÈDRES À DORIGNY, BÂTIR L’ÉCOLE D’ARCHITECTURE 04.03-29.09.2026 Vernissage ! Mardi 3 mars 18h30 — School Lecture donnée par l’Atelier Scheidegger Keller suivie d’une introduction à l’exposition 19h30 — Ouverture des portes et apéritff Articulée autour de projets architecturaux construits ou non réalisés conservés dans les fonds des Archives de la construction moderne, l’exposition Des Cèdres à Dorigny retrace la naissance et l’évolution de l’école d’architecture à Lausanne. De ses débuts au sein de l’EPUL jusqu’à son intégration sur le campus de l’EPFL, cette traversée historique met en perspective les conditions de l’enseignement de l’architecture, ses relations avec l’ingénierie, ainsi …

ABSTRACT Architecture organizes life, anthropology interprets practices, meanings, and social relations. The work of Gian Piero Frassinelli is emblematic of an anthropological perspective on architecture, understood as a cultural practice shaped by everyday life, labor, rituals, and modes of inhabitation. Emerging within the radical context of Superstudio, Frassinelli’s work helped redefine architecture not primarily as the production of buildings, but as a critical framework for understanding how human life is organized, represented, and imagined. Beginning with his thesis project, the Centre for Anthropological Studies in Florence, and continuing through subsequent research developed within Superstudio, such as The Twelve Ideal Cities …

11.02.26 - À l’occasion de la quatrième édition du Prix Master Architecture décerné par la SIA. Deux projets issus de la Section d’architecture de l’EPFL ont reçu une Mention, distinguant la qualité et l’engagement des travaux de diplôme développés au sein de l’école. Parmi les travaux distingués figure le projet de Léa Guillotin, Re-fabriquer Sévelin : l’image de l’industrie au centre-ville. Inscrit dans le quartier lausannois de Sévelin, aujourd’hui largement tertiarisé, le projet interroge la place de l’industrie au cœur de la ville contemporaine face aux défis écologiques et logistiques actuels. S’appuyant sur le dernier ensemble bâti des années 1930, …

28.11.25 - Bruno Marchand reçoit le Prix de la Culture du Bâti 2025, dans la catégorie Architecture et Paysage L’EPFL Architecture – la Section d’architecture et l’Institut d’architecture et de la ville – adressent leurs plus chaleureuses félicitations à Bruno Marchand, professeur honoraire à l’EPFL, lauréat du Prix de la culture du bâti 2025 dans la catégorie Architecture et paysage. Figure majeure de l’enseignement de l’architecture à l’EPFL, Bruno Marchand a dirigé durant de nombreuses années le Laboratoire de théorie et d’histoire de l’architecture – LTH2 ainsi que l’Institut d’architecture et de la ville. Ses travaux, notamment consacrés au logement …

21.10.25 - The TRC-LC3 Prototype Pavilion, developed at EPFL Fribourg is exhibited at the 14th International Architecture Biennale of São Paulo. By exploring the structural, architectural, environmental, and social dimensions of TRC-LC3, the research highlights its potential for application in the Global South. The 14th International Architecture Biennale of São Paulo (@bienaldearquiteturasp) for an Overheated Planet, EXTREMOS, places an urgent question at the center of the dialogue: what is the role of architecture in a world facing extreme climate events and the very limits of human life, with the point of no return looming on the horizon? In line with …

During a one-week Summer Workshop at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in Central London, students will explore drawing as a fundamental tool in architecture and engineering, engaging with the site as both a built environment and a historically transformed place. Developed in collaboration with Drawing Matter, London, the workshop integrates hands-on drawing with research into the Drawing Matter Collection, a unique archive of architectural drawings. Students will construct survey drawings—understood as instruments for potentially transforming existing conditions—while investigating drawing as a corporeal practice of measuring, analyzing, and questioning spatial, tectonic, urban, and material articulation, as well as the notion of place. Drawing …

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 …

This documentary on the 2025 Master's projects at EPFL Architecture offers a glimpse into the topics addressed and investigated by master’s students: resources and craftsmanship, issues related to urban and territorial scales, social housing and individual housing, and interventions in existing buildings, including transformation, rehabilitation and renovation, are among the topics covered during the PDM. The PDM year at EPFL offers a rare freedom: the choice of one's own subjects and collaborations. It is a crucial moment when everyone takes a stand, not only in their studies but also in relation to the role of the architect. The video does …

Projets de Master 2025 Exhibition and reviews The 2025 Master Projects Exhibition showcases the work of EPFL architecture students as they confront the material, social, and territorial challenges of today’s world. Spread across three distinct areas, the exhibition showcases a diverse range of approaches: some projects delve into the use of local resources and traditional craftsmanship, working with materials such as wood or earth, or exploring self-building techniques. Others operate at larger scales, reimagining urban and territorial dynamics in light of environmental and societal shifts. A third group focuses on housing, both collective and individual, and on interventions within existing …

Les étudiant.es en Master, Vincent Digneaux, Solène Guisan et Vincent Kastl ont gagné le premier prix du concours étudiant d’architecture Sustainable is beautiful avec leur projet d’une passerelle modulable sur la rivière Chamberonne, à la fois lieu de passage et de rencontre. Une première expérience au plus proche de la réalité de la profession. Le Laboratoire d’architecture et technologies durables (LAST) propose depuis quelques années aux étudiantes et étudiants de la Faculté de l’environnement naturel, architectural et construit (ENAC) des concours d’idées baptisés Sustainable is beautiful, en partenariat avec des institutions privées ou publiques engagées dans des initiatives locales liées à la transition.

PRIX RIBA CHARLES JENCKS AWARD 2023

Le bureau Dogma, fondé en 2002 par Pier Vittorio Aureli, professeur associé à la section d’Architecture de l’EPFL (ENAC), et Martino Tattara, a été récompensé par l’illustre prix Charles Jencks 2023 du Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Créé en 2003 pour récompenser une personne (ou un bureau) ayant récemment apporté une contribution majeure à la fois à la théorie et à la pratique de l'architecture, ce prix prestigieux a distingué au fil des ans des architectes tels que Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas ou Jacques Herzog et Pierre de Meuron.

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.