SUN SHINES ON ARCHITECTURE
Exhibition from 21 March to 21 June 2025
Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 5:30pm
Archizoom, SG building, Place Ada Lovelace, EPFL
In spring 2025, Archizoom is inviting you to immerse yourself into the world of solar architecture.
Capturing, filtering, reflecting or protecting: the interactions of the sun with architecture and with our territories are many and varied. The sun is at once a source of precious energy, of unwanted heat, and of light. In the face of global warming, these technical and poetic challenges are getting a real update — illustrated in the exhibition by work from EPFL laboratories, a cartography of contemporary Swiss solar buildings and the resurgence of historical examples.
This exhibition is part of the Solar Biennale 2: Soleil·s organised by the mudac.
EVENTS
- Vernissage! Wednesday 19 March, SG building
Joint opening with Enter the Hyper-Scientific
5 p.m. – Exhibition opening at Archizoom
6 p.m. – Adresses by Prof Marilyne Andersen (Director of the LIPID laboratory), Prof Paolo Ricci (Director of the Swiss Plasma Center), Dr Yasmine Calisesi (Executive Director of the Energy Center), Cyril Veillon (Curator of the exhibition Sun Shines on Architecture), Giulia Bini (Curator of the programme Enter The Hyper Scientific)
6.30 p.m. – Opening of the exhibition From Solar to Nocturnal à EPFL Pavilions – Pavilion A with the artists Alice Bucknell and Matthew C. Wilson and aperitive - Energy vs architecture? Tuesday 8 April 5.30 p.m.
Lecture by Maria Cristina Munari Probst - Guided tour Tuesday 8 April 6.30 p.m.
On registration, in French - Greenhouses studies Seminar Monday 31 March
1-6 p.m. – Series of lectures and discussions (information to come)
Organised by Tiago Borges (EAST, EPFL) - Meeting with the Archives of the modern construction Wednesday 30 April
12.15-1.30 p.m. – Discovery of the archives of the solar architects with Dr. Salvatore Aprea, Director of Acm, and the architects Patrick Chiché, Dimitri Demetriades and Dimitri Papadaniel
3-4.30 p.m. – Tour of the solar district in Préverenges, winner of the Prix Suisse Romand d’architecture solaire, 1988, with the architects
5.30- 6.30 p.m. – Tour of the solar houses in Lausanne-Ouchy, 1981, with the architects
On registration, in French - Guided tour Tuesday 13 May 5 p.m.
On registration, in English - Workshop for children and families Saturday 21 June
2-5 p.m. – Join us at the Mudac for some sunny activities!
Organised by the Service de la Promotion des Sciences, SPS, EPFL - EPFL Library on show! From Wednesday 19 March to 15 May
Documentary selection related to the Solar Biennale 2: Soleil·s
Also available online
Switzerland 1981
The relationship between architecture and the sun has profoundly shaped the design and construction of buildings for millennia. Yet, the integration of solar energy into the built environment has remained rather marginal to this day.
Although the sun has always been there as a source of energy and beauty, should we wait for fossil fuels to run out before turning to it? The manifesto of the Solar Biennale declares: its time has finally come, but it is not enough to simply plug the sun into an outlet. A holistic approach to solar design must be embraced.
The current “solar movement” rethinks architecture and urban planning on a global scale, placing the sun at the center of our concerns. The exhibition explores how this energy source, whether used passively or actively, becomes a true architectural element, benefiting any renovation or new construction project.
Exhibition produced by Archizoom for the second Solar Biennale, coordinated by mudac. Initiated in 2022 in the Netherlands by designers Pauline van Dongen and Marjan van Aubel, the Solar Biennale offers a platform for reflection on the challenges of solar energy.
Exhibition curator
Cyril Veillon
Co-curation and Graphic design of the exhibition
Solène Hoffmann
Co-curation, scenography and production
Dimitri Kasparian
Architectural drawings
Victor Sitavanc
Administration
Beatrice Raball
Workshop for children and families
Anna Pontais, Service de promotion des sciences, SPS, EPFL
Graphic design
Sophie Wietlisbach
Exhibition set-up
Marie Bourdon, Arthur Douillet, Léa Guillotin, Emilie Hamel, Léo Perrin, Lalie Porteret, Carolina Pichler
With contributions from the research laboratories of Faculty of the Natural, Architectural and Built Environment (ENAC) at EPFL, and from architects, engineers, photographers and artists:
Laboratory Elementary Architecture and Studies of Types (EAST, EPFL): Prof Anja Fröhlich, Prof Martin Fröhlich, Tiago P. Borges, Luciano Antonietti
Laboratory of Integrated Performance in Design (LIPID, EPFL): Prof Marilyne Andersen, Yunjoung Cho,
Stephen Wasilewski
Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST, EPFL): Sergi Aguacil Moreno, Benoît Meylan, Ulrich Liman, Sophie Lufkin, Prof Emmanuel Rey
Archives of modern construction (Acm): Salvatore Aprea & Barbara Galimberti
Architect’s archives: Dimitri Papadaniel, Dimitri Demetriades, Patrick Chiché
Building2050 group, EPFL Fribourg: Sergi Aguacil Moreno, Sebastian Duque Mahecha, Régis Widmer
Laboratory for Integrated Comfort Engineering (ICE, EPFL): Prof Dolaana Khovalyg, Arnab Chatterjee, Mohamad Rida, Stéphane Pilloud, Claude-Alain Jacot with Miaomiao Hou, Dorit Aviv, Eric Teitelbaum, Forrest Meggers
Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory (LESO PB, EPFL): Maria Cristina Munari Probst, Christian Roecker
Nanotechnology for Solar Energy Conversion group, EPFL: Prof Andreas Schüler, Marina Gonzalez Lazo, Silvia Coccolo, Cesar Amarillo Belmonte, Anna Krammer, Federico Turci,
Maxime Lagier
NeighborHub, Swiss Living Challenge, Solar Decathlon 2017, Denver, USA
Jérôme Payet & Aristide Athanassiadis, Environmental system analysis and assessment course, ENAC-SSIE
Hemauer / Keller, artists, Zurich
Cortis & Sonderegger / ohnetitel.ch, photographs, Zurich
Atelier d’architecture Luc Schuiten, Schaerbeek, Belgium
Comte/Meuwly, architects, Zurich
Dieter Dietz, architect, Zurich & Lausanne
Lütjens Padmanabhan Architekt*innen, Zurich
labac, société coopérative | laboratoire d’architectures et cultures du bâti (anciennement Bellmann Architectes)
Beat Kämpfen-Federer, Kämpfen Zinke + Partner architekten, Zurich
DOSCRE, Donet Schäfer Reimer Architekten, Zürich
Roger Boltshauser Architekten, Zurich
Sandy Evangelista & Alban Kakulya, réalisateur·trice·s / Film director
Freesuns, Colombier
Esquisse solaire, Bussigny
Laurent Laurent Emmenegger, Jérôme Benoist, Carine Latreille, Model Workshop, EPFL
Roxane Le Grelle, curator, Brussels
Yasmine Calisesi & Laura Church, Energy Center, EPFL
Giulia Bini, Enter the Hyper-Scientific,
Humanities College, (CDH, EPFL)
Scott Longfellow, Rafael Santianez, Sylvie Rottmeier, Coralie Bieri, Lana Damergi, Romain Carré, mudac
Théo Bellmann, labac
François Guisan, MAGENTA EKO
Prof Jean-Louis Scartezzini
Lola Abalos, Transsolar KlimaEngineering
Axel Simon, Hochparterre
Nicola Navone, USI – Accademia di architettura,
Archivio del Moderno
Elias Trout, MIT Museum
François Perrin, Structural Engineering Platform (GIS, EPFL)
Julie Haffner & Bettina Caruso, EPFL Mediacom
Prof Christophe Ballif, CSEM/EPFL
Françoise Massines, PROMES, CNRS
Bruno Helbling Fotografie
Ariel Huber Photography
Nataelle Delacroix, Freesuns
Dr Virginie Le Caër, esquisse solaire