Architecture

With the help of artificial intelligence and four collaborative robots, researchers at ETH Zurich are designing and fabricating a 22.5-metre-tall green architectural sculpture.

Buildings that own and run themselves: this idea, from the think-tank Dezentrum, was put into action for the first time at ETH Zurich in the form of a prototype. The result is a meditation cabin that shakes up the usual economic and social expectations.

The Artificial Swissness exhibit – a larger than life-sized “design brain” developed by EPFL’s Media x Design Lab (LDM) – is currently on display at the Seoul Biennale for Architecture and Urbanism, which runs until 31 October 2021. This high-tech machine can generate a virtually infinite number of architectural images of Swiss Alpine cabins.

Valerio Piazza is creating new 3D architectures built from an inventive form of nanowire. His research aims to push the boundaries of miniaturization and pave the way to more powerful electronic devices. He has just won the 2020 Piaget Scientific Award, whose prize money will fund his work at EPFL for a year.

EPFL researchers have built a footbridge prototype using reinforced-concrete blocks from walls of a building being renovated. The blocks were cut into individual pieces on site and assembled into a prestressed arch. This project, which marks the first time concrete has been reused in this way, is part of an initiative to substantially shrink the construction industry’s carbon footprint by adopting a circular economy approach. The footbridge will be inaugurated at a ceremony at the Smart Living Lab in Fribourg on 11 October.