École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - EPFL

Under a joint UNIL-IMD-EPFL initiative coordinated by the Enterprise for Society (E4S) and CLIMACT centers, a new online directory has just been launched with information on 330 experts performing innovative, sustainability-oriented R&D at the three universities.

Three EPFL architecture graduates founded Roofscapes, a Paris-based company that aims to turn the city’s sloping rooftops into gardens. We spoke with the founders about their entrepreneurial adventure.

Wie sieht die Zürcher Landschaft aus, die zu einem neuen Gleichgewicht beiträgt?  Die Ausstellung will mit vielstimmig versammelten Positionen die Formen des städtischen Zusammenlebens herausfordern und eine Verschiebung sowohl in der Wahrnehmung als auch im Handeln anregen. Der traditionelle Gegensatz Stadt — Land hat seine Trennschärfe eingebüsst. Landschaft verbindet Land und Stadt, strukturiert den Boden und öffnet für Wildnis neue Räume. Landschaftstadt Zürich steht für die Idee eines porösen urbanen Systems.

The conference will address the long and rich history of Swiss-Italian relations in architecture by bringing together more than 30 academics from more than 15 institutions who will partake in four thematic panels and one roundtable. By featuring a broad chronological framework, the event will shed light on the architectural relationships between Switzerland and Italy since the early modern times, focusing on the intense exchanges of the last seventy years.

Starting fall 2024, all EPFL first-year students will be required to take a core class in sustainability, and each department will introduce a sustainability-oriented Bachelor’s class and Master’s class with a focus on real-world applications. These changes come as part of EPFL’s Teach4Sustainability initiative, which also includes integrating sustainability more deeply into existing curricula.

The two EPFL architects have completed a detailed study of the headquarters of Vaudoise Assurances, a Lausanne-based insurance company, with a view to informing future restoration work. The opening of the book will take place on March 16 at 6 pm at the Musée cantonal de design et d'arts appliqués contemporains (MUDAC), in Lausanne.

Its professional nature notwithstanding, architecture is seldom studied through the activity - design - which characterises its material development. Initiated by the EPFL Doctoral Program in Architecture and Science of the City (EDAR), the 2023 edition of the public seminar SCHOLARS in Transition seeks to focus on the particular, still little understood, type of research, done ‘through’ design.

A recent publication explores the unique history of dormitories from the Middle Ages to present day. Drawing on a corpus spanning everything from submarines to mountain huts, the authors examine the fine balance between the need for privacy and the function of dormitories as collective spaces, and reflect on the implications for contemporary challenges. The book can be downloaded free of charge from the publisher’s website.

Architect and urban planner Estefania Mompean Botias is writing her thesis on architecture in the context of emergency situations. As part of her work, she’s developing a global atlas of local emergency management practices.

The 2022 Durabilis prize list brings together individual works on different ways of dealing with global warming, from a technological point of view on the EPFL side and a cultural point of view on the UNIL side. Summary of their work and comments from the jury.

The 2023 edition of the CROSS (Collaborative Research on Science and Society) program invited researchers from EPFL and the University of Lausanne to submit proposals for joint projects on the theme of crisis. Of the six selected projects, two will be co-directed by ENAC researchers: Jérôme Chenal and Michael Lehning.

EPFL has joined the Laidlaw Foundation to offer its first-year Bachelor’s students a new program designed to develop a new generation of leaders working for a sustainable future.

Aurélie Terrier from the Institute of Architecture, Savvas Saloustros from the Institute of Civil Engineering and Hélène Angot from the Institute of Environmental Engineering have each won a research grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

For his master's project in architecture, Jeremy Morris analyzed the cycle of construction materials in the canton of Vaud. His study shows that more regular use of raw earth could reduce the sector's carbon impact. The architect proposes three measures to achieve it.

Das Ziel ist nicht ein Neubau: Martin und Anja Fröhlich lehren den Architektur-Studierenden an der EPF Lausanne das Denken in Kategorien der Wiederverwendung. Sie machen sich Gedanken über Umnutzungen und bauen eigenhändig Pavillons.