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Education

The book is published at EPFL Press. © EAST Lab / EPFL

Sleeping together: Examining dormitories as architectural types

Education

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.

From left to right: Loé Maire, Alexis Barrou, Julie Grieshaber, Jean-André Davy—Guidicelli, Sophie Desbiolles © Xavier Nussbaum 2022 EPFL

5 Master's theses awarded on adaptation to climate change

Education

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.

Olivier Lalancette has imagined the future of the former Lonza landfill site between Brig and Visp. © EPFL

Urban planning helps mitigate extreme weather effects in Haut-Valais

Education

Olivier Lalancette, an EPFL Master’s student in architecture, has come up with some development proposals for the Brig-Visp-Naters conurbation. His suggestions, relatively modest in scope, could help these cities better withstand the droughts and heavy rainfall that are expected to intensify by 2050. Lalancette hopes his study will start a conversation about the region’s future.

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Research

A satellite image of Siberia Lena delta that flows in the Arctic Ocean. © NASA

Why rivers matter for the global carbon cycle

Research

In a new journal article, EPFL professor Tom Battin reviews our current understanding of carbon fluxes in the world’s river networks. He demonstrates their central role in the global carbon cycle and argues for the creation of a global River Observation System.

The unmanned, GPS-guided catamaran used to observe the lake. © Alain Herzog / EPFL

Scientists delve into natural slicks on Lake Geneva

Research

An EPFL researcher has, for the first time, documented slicks – those visually arresting, moving patches of smooth water – and explained what is happening beneath the surface. 

Anna Karla de Almeida Santos. © Alain Herzog / EPFL

Industrial heritage: a driver of the socioecological transition

Research

In this article appearing in Switzerland’s French-speaking press, Anna Karla de Almeida Santos, a PhD candidate at the Laboratory of Urbanism (Lab-U), explains that the transformation of sites with an industrial past represents an opportunity to test research avenues and materialize the socio-ecological transition.

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Innovation

© 2022 EPFL

“Google Earth on steroids” gives a boost to urban development

Innovation

Uzufly’s technology uses aerial imaging to generate 3D models of cities and regions with advanced precision, enabling urban planners to incorporate full-scale designs of all types of architectural and urban structures.

Comparaison visuelle de Zanzibar City, en Tanzanie. carte de la densité de population en haute résolution (à gauche) et avec POMELO (à droite)

AI enables more effective humanitarian action

Innovation

Researchers from ENAC and ETH Zurich, working together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Bin Khalifa Unversity (Qatar), have developed a program that can generate population density estimates with unparalleled precision, and only needs a rough estimate at the regional level to learn.

Margaux Peltier is an EPFL civil engineer. © Martin Ruetsche

Tapping into the energy stored beneath our cities

Innovation

In this article appearing in Switzerland’s French-speaking press, Margaux Peltier, the CEO of Enerdrape and a research assistant at EPFL’s Laboratory of Soil Mechanics, explains how recent technology developed at EPFL can help bring geothermal energy into existing buildings.

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Video and audio

Video | Science popularization “De la glace à l’eau”

19-12-2022

In the video intended for young audiences «De la glace à l’eau», our experts present their research on snow, avalanches, the poles and the Alps in the context of climate change.

Video | “Google Earth on steroids” gives a boost to urban development

16-12-2022

Uzufly’s technology uses aerial imaging to generate 3D models of cities and regions with advanced precision, enabling urban planners to incorporate full-scale designs of all types of architectural and urban structures.Read full article

Audio | Archizoom Podcast

13-12-2022

Un podcast sur l’architecture qui s’invente collectivement, bouscule les préjugés, et vérifie la solidité des concepts que l’on construit.

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ENAC Community

Estefania Mompean Botias in front of a global map of disasters and emergencies © 2022 EPFL, Alain Herzog - CC BY-SA 4.0

“Emergencies are becoming increasingly common”

EPFL community

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 new building houses the Alpine and Polar Environmental Research Centre. © Olivier Maire

EPFL plans new research center in Valais on the energy transition

EPFL community

Ten years after signing the agreement to open its Valais Wallis campus in Sion, today EPFL opened a new building on the campus: Alpole, which will serve as a research center on alpine and polar environments. EPFL also took the opportunity to unveil plans to create another research center in Sion – one focused on the energy transition – and has obtained preliminary approval from the Valais cantonal government.

Prof. Fernando Porté-Agel is doing a minature wind turbine demonstration.© Alain Herzog

“Fluid mechanics is a fascinating field because it's very visual”

EPFL community

EPFL professor Fernando Porté-Agel has won the ENAC Polysphère Award for the second time in under a decade. He uses concrete examples and novel teaching methods to make fluid mechanics a fun, interactive topic to study. 

More news about ENAC community

Columns

Anna Karla de Almeida Santos. © Alain Herzog / EPFL

Industrial heritage: a driver of the socioecological transition

Research

In this article appearing in Switzerland’s French-speaking press, Anna Karla de Almeida Santos, a PhD candidate at the Laboratory of Urbanism (Lab-U), explains that the transformation of sites with an industrial past represents an opportunity to test research avenues and materialize the socio-ecological transition.

Margaux Peltier is an EPFL civil engineer. © Martin Ruetsche

Tapping into the energy stored beneath our cities

Innovation

In this article appearing in Switzerland’s French-speaking press, Margaux Peltier, the CEO of Enerdrape and a research assistant at EPFL’s Laboratory of Soil Mechanics, explains how recent technology developed at EPFL can help bring geothermal energy into existing buildings.

Jerôme Chenal is Head of the Urban and Regional Planning Community. © Alain Herzog / EPFL

Made in the shade

EPFL

In this article appearing in Switzerland’s French-speaking press, Jérôme Chenal, the head of EPFL’s Urban and Regional Planning Community (CEAT), gives suggestions for how city planners can adapt their cities to make them more resilient to climate change.

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