News

Patronage as Collaboration

Published:18.12.23 — Michela Bonomo contributed to Vol. 3, No. 5 of the Dimensions. Journal of Architectural Knowledge on the call "Collaborations: Rethinking Architectural Design" in December 2023 with her article 'Patronage as Collaboration. Dante Bini's Villas in Sardinia'.

Let the wind take care of everything

Published:19.04.24 — Let the wind take care of everything est une célébration du travail des étudiant·e·s de la formation supérieure en photographie du CEPV et de la démarche pédagogique menée par le laboratoire ALICE de la section d’architecture de l’EPFL. C’est une exploration visuelle et textuelle liant architecture et photographie qui prend la forme d’une publication distribuée par l’éditeur Mörel books.

New postgrad course "Digital Timber Construction"

Published:19.04.23 — How can we leverage technology and digital tools to design innovative and sustainable wood construction projects?

Smart Living Lab Annual Report 2022

Published:19.07.23 — Discover the Smart Living Lab 2022 annual report! The succession of unprecedented crises that continue to beset our society calls for profound changes in how we produce and use buildings. These have an impact on the environment and the climate because they consume energy and natural resources for the sake of human comfort. They can also affect our health, and raise geopolitical challenges due to issues surrounding access to raw and construction materials. Our lifestyles have dramatically changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, which has in turn led us to use the built environment in new ways. These changes require innovative technological and social solutions that are driven by scientific progress.

A pathway to decarbonize residential buildings

Published:03.09.24 — An interdisciplinary journal on the science and technology aspects of the built environment, the Journal of Building Engineering has just published an article on the doctoral thesis of Dr. Sergi Aguacil, completed at the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) in the framework of the Active interfaces research project, part of the NRP 70 of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Entitled “Designing with building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV): A pathway to decarbonize residential buildings?" and co-written with Prof. Emmanuel. Rey, Dr. Sebastian Duqueand Dr. Sophie Lufkin, the article explores the issues involved in the implementation of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) into the renewal process of residential buildings.

An urban-rural synthesis

Published:03.09.24 — A book edited by the Laboratoire de Sociologie Urbaine paints a portrait of Switzerland in 12 cities, avoiding the major conurbations. According to Vincent Kaufmann, LASUR's director, interviewed by “Le Temps”, these medium-sized cities, which combine the urban and the rural, can provide solutions.

“There's room in Swiss agriculture for greater biodiversity”

Published:13.12.23 — This year’s UNIL-EPFL Durabilis Awards went to two Master’s projects addressing sustainability in the food industry. Both winners – Agathe Crosnier (EPFL – SSIE) and Nicolas Bissardon (UNIL) – came up with fresh ideas for producing and consuming food in a more environmentally responsible way.

Successful candidacy exam at LIPID

Published:24.06.24 — Catherine Bratschi has sucessfuly passed her candidacy exam at the EDNE doctoral school (neurosciences) and is now PhD candidate at LIPID. Congratulations Catherine !

Journal paper on the environmental footprint of large building stocks

Published:08.07.24 — The Cleaner Environmental Systems journal publishes our paper on the "Multiscale Spatiotemporal Characterization of Embodied Environmental Performance of Building Structures in Geneva from 1850 to 2018". Authored by Corentin Fivet (SXL, EPFL), Catherine De Wolf (ETHZ), Thibaut Menny (ETHZ), Séréna Vanbutsele (HEIA-FR) and André Stéphan (U. of Melbourne), the paper applies new methods to better characterize the evolution of the embodied emissions related to the construction of large building stocks.

What can the Avanchet-Parc housing complex teach us today?

Published:09.05.23 — In this column, published in three regional dailies, researcher and architect Giulia Marino discusses how the Avanchet-Parc housing complex near Geneva can inspire future ecodistricts