Projet réalisé dans le cadre du cours de BA5 @constructing.the.view : Composition Series & Still Life - Color Shots" à @epflarchitecture . Le premier exercice nous a conduit à explorer des figures géométriques abstraites en 2D, en analysant les stratégies de composition visuelle et les relations proportionnelles. Ces compositions ont été progressivement transférées en 3D, en intégrant des textures, des dégradés de lumière, et des perspectives pour créer une profondeur visuelle.
Dans la deuxième partie, nous avons imaginé des natures mortes abstraites en arrangeant des objets colorés dans des modèles 3D, puis en les photographiant avec un soin particulier apporté à la lumière et à la mise en scène.
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MAS UTD ETHZ EPFL – Launch Call for Applications 2025-2026 | The MAS UTD Call for Applications is now open for 2025-2026!
The Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design (MAS UTD) is accepting new applications from January 1-March 31 for the 2025-2026 academic year. The joint MAS programme bridges the ETH Zurich and EPFL, and is part of the Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies (LUS) at the ETH Zurich D-ARCH and the Habitat Research Center (HRC) at the EPFL ENAC. Participants of his one-year, full-time postgraduate programme receive a 60 ECTS joint degree, the “MAS ETH EPFL UTD”.
The future of the urban engages social and environmental imaginaries, which now extend beyond-the-city and beyond-the-human. Rather than an object, the territory becomes a subject in dialogue with other subjects, and space becomes an agent of socioecological change. The urban and territorial project is understood as a possibility to explore common epistemic horizons and new biopolitical paradigms. The MAS programme embraces such a transition as a field of critical and imaginative investigation based on the principles of social and environmental equity and justice. Engaging with notions of transformation, reuse, regeneration, reparation, and transition of habitats and ecologies, the MAS deploys the urban and territorial project as the crucial field of knowledge production across scales.
For further information concerning the programme, tuition fees, and how to apply, please check our link on bio or contact us: Info-masutd@ethz.ch
Website link - www.mas-utd.arch.ethz.ch
Image 1 & 2 – ETH Architecture of Territory and Goda Budvytytė, 2024.
Photo 3 – Qianer Zhu
Photo 4 – Jeremy Waterfield
Photo 5 – Anna Karla De Almeida Santos
Photo 6 –
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MAS UTD ETHZ EPFL – Launch Call for Applications 2025-2026 | The MAS UTD Call for Applications is now open for 2025-2026!
The Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design (MAS UTD) is accepting new applications from January 1-March 31 for the 2025-2026 academic year. The joint MAS programme bridges the ETH Zurich and EPFL, and is part of the Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies (LUS) at the ETH Zurich D-ARCH and the Habitat Research Center (HRC) at the EPFL ENAC. Participants of his one-year, full-time postgraduate programme receive a 60 ECTS joint degree, the “MAS ETH EPFL UTD”.
The future of the urban engages social and environmental imaginaries, which now extend beyond-the-city and beyond-the-human. Rather than an object, the territory becomes a subject in dialogue with other subjects, and space becomes an agent of socioecological change. The urban and territorial project is understood as a possibility to explore common epistemic horizons and new biopolitical paradigms. The MAS programme embraces such a transition as a field of critical and imaginative investigation based on the principles of social and environmental equity and justice. Engaging with notions of transformation, reuse, regeneration, reparation, and transition of habitats and ecologies, the MAS deploys the urban and territorial project as the crucial field of knowledge production across scales.
For further information concerning the programme, tuition fees, and how to apply, please check our link on bio or contact us: Info-masutd@ethz.ch
Website link - www.mas-utd.arch.ethz.ch
Image 1 & 2 – ETH Architecture of Territory and Goda Budvytytė, 2024.
Photo 3 – Qianer Zhu
Photo 4 – Jeremy Waterfield
Photo 5 – Anna Karla De Almeida Santos
Photo 6 –
The passing of , architect and Professor at the Universidad @eadpucv in Valparaíso, Chile, marks an immense loss. As the last guardian of the legacy of the , his ethical and intellectual stance, his remarkable body of work, and his research in the in deeply inspired students of EPFL.
More than 100 students from Switzerland's three main schools - @epflarchitecture, @arch.ethz and @usi_accademia have had the opportunity to contribute to the thanks to a platform that we built together between 2013 and 2020. The ResearchPlatform, which began as a spontaneous initiative, has gradually gained the support of Swiss institutions. At the , it has led to the creation of an evolving and that addresses contemporary and innovative issues, both in terms of and .
David has left us, but his spirit lives on. Always working, always available, he taught us a precious lesson: to work progressively, weaving an unbreakable bond between design and construction. For him, was an . Designing and building were harmoniously interwoven, and all this was rooted in a profoundly .
Always open to dialogue, respectful and steadfast, he collaborated with exceptional devotion, involving us in a truly . Together, we were better than alone.
Excerpt from the tribute written by , with contributions from , , and .
Full tribute
actu.epfl.ch/search/architecture
Archives
“Open City Research Platform” Summer Workshop, 2014-2019, EPFL
livingarchives.epfl.ch/projects/5956/summer-workshop-enac-open-city-research-platform/
“The Observación” Exhibition, 2019, EPFL, Archizoom
epfl.ch/campus/art-culture/museum-exhibitions/archizoom/the-observacion/
“OPEN CITY, Thinking while building” Exhibition, 2013, EPFL, Archizoom
epfl.ch/campus/art-culture/museum-exhibitions/archizoom-en/exhibitions/open_city/
news @epflarchitecture @archizoom @epflenac @epflcampus @epflstudents
We are pleased to announce the appointment of as at EPFL ENAC Architecture. Co-founder of (DDA), she brings expertise in and . At EPFL, she will lead the laboratory and teach architectural design.
ADHER will explore the potential of existing structures as resources for contemporary architecture. By developing advanced methods and tools for analysis and design, the lab aims to highlight the transformative capacity of heritage, focusing on sustainable, context-sensitive interventions. Emphasizing a hybrid, multidisciplinary approach, ADHER investigates the restoration, adaptation, and energy performance of modern structures seeking innovative solutions that address both the preservation and functional transformation of these buildings for new uses.
Claudia’s recent work, including the for the Réhabilitation de la gare haute du téléphérique du Salève, was recognized for its ethical design and respectful integration into a protected natural site.
Image credits: EPFL (1), Manuel Bougot (2,3,4)
@epflarchitecture @epflenac @epflcampus @ddadevaux
[EPFL STUDIO VIGANÒ MAS UTD Fieldwork]
FIELDWORK IN THE GREATER GENEVA
Few weeks ago, the MAS UTD students kicked off their Design Studio this semester with an exciting bike fieldwork through the Grand Genève region, which spans both Switzerland and France, stretched along the Leman lakeshores. This immersive journey marked the beginning of their in-depth exploration of the Chablais.
During an over 80 km ride, the students not only experienced the region’s rich landscapes but also encountered a range of local challenges, paradoxes, and tensions—issues they will need to continue exploring and reflecting upon throughout the semester. From navigating political boundaries to understanding the needs of local communities and the environment, these real-world complexities are central to their design process.
Along the way, they engaged with local actors, including institutions, citizens, and associations, who shared their perspectives on the region’s future. These conversations will help guide the students as they work toward crafting a vision for the future of the Chablais, balancing sustainable development, cross-border cooperation, and the diverse needs of the people who live there.
During the fieldwork, the students organized into three working groups, each focusing on a specific site within the Chablais region: one group is exploring a cross-border forest and its relationships with a network of villages on its borders, a second group is investigating a wetland system at the foot of the Voirons mountains, and a third group is focusing on a commercial and industrial platform situated on a topographic terrace at the entrance to the city of Thonon.
[MAS UTD ETHZ EPFL – Opening Day 2024-2025]
LAUNCH OF THE MAS UTD ETHZ/EPFL 2024-2025
On September 10th, we officially launched the 4th edition of the ETHZ/EPFL joint MAS Program in Urban and Territorial Design!
The teaching staff, along with representatives from the ENAC Faculty, the Extension School EPFL, and the School for Continuing Education ETHZ, came together to celebrate the start of this new academic year and to celebrate the ongoing collaboration between our two institutions. This year, we welcomed a new cohort of talented students from all over the world, each bringing their passion and enthusiasm. Hailing from diverse backgrounds and cultures, all participants are ready to dive into the complex challenges of urban development, sustainability, and territorial design.
We were thrilled to welcome the new students to Switzerland for the first day of the MAS UTD 2024–2025 at EPFL in Lausanne. After the first semester at EPFL, they will be setting off to Zurich in February 2025 for the second semester of the MAS UTD at ETHZ.
At the same time, we celebrated the incredible achievements of the graduating cohort from the academic year 2023-2024, who successfully completed the MAS UTD across both schools over the past year!
Discover more about the on livingarchives.epfl.ch! will be available online starting January 21 2025. Stay tuned!
Studios: @alice_epfl @domestic.city.lab @east.superstudio @ibois_epfl @lab_u_epfl @last_epfl @riot_epfl @texas.studio.epfl @mxd_epfl @antoineiweins @noemiezurbriggen @kinkerlizchen
Guest studios: @assemble_studio_epfl @assembleofficial @vervoz @piovenefabi @studio.gaymenzel @gaymenzel @uncertainconditions @truwantrodet
Images: Juliette Lafrasse and Léo Perrin-Livenais
@epflarchitecture @epflenac @epflcampus @epflstudents
Last December, the showcased the work of our , bringing together inspiring projects and explorations. Congratulations to all the students and teaching teams for the amazing work! Thank you to everyone who contributed, participated, and joined us.
Studios: @alice_epfl @domestic.city.lab @east.superstudio @ibois_epfl @lab_u_epfl @last_epfl @riot_epfl @texas.studio.epfl @mxd_epfl @antoineiweins @noemiezurbriggen @kinkerlizchen
Guest studios: @assemble_studio_epfl @assembleofficial @vervoz @piovenefabi @studio.gaymenzel @gaymenzel @uncertainconditions @truwantrodet
Images: Juliette Lafrasse and Léo Perrin-Livenais
@epflarchitecture @epflenac @epflcampus @epflstudents
S.O.S. à l’espace public • Archizoom EPFL
projet lauréat 🎉 • concours project room, 2021.
Les gradins ont été conçus comme des objets du quotidien - ils servent aussi bien aux présentations et conférences qu’aux moments plus informels. Leur nombre permet de proposer cette variation de moment et d’offrir aux utilisateur·ice·s une assise et une table. Ces objets en mouvements qui passent de l’intérieur à l’extérieur offrent une scène à tout espace si prêtant et un repos à celle et celui qui se l’approprie.
réalisation : Atelier La Grange
architecture
[MAS UTD ETHZ EPFL – Launch Call for Applications 2025-2026]
The MAS UTD Call for Applications is now open for 2025-2026!
The Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design (MAS UTD) is accepting new applications from January 1-March 31 for the 2025-2026 academic year. The joint MAS programme bridges the ETH Zurich and EPFL, and is part of the Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies (LUS) at the ETH Zurich D-ARCH and the Habitat Research Center (HRC) at the EPFL ENAC. Participants of his one-year, full-time postgraduate programme receive a 60 ECTS joint degree, the “MAS ETH EPFL UTD”.
The future of the urban engages social and environmental imaginaries, which now extend beyond-the-city and beyond-the-human. Rather than an object, the territory becomes a subject in dialogue with other subjects, and space becomes an agent of socioecological change. The urban and territorial project is understood as a possibility to explore common epistemic horizons and new biopolitical paradigms. The MAS programme embraces such a transition as a field of critical and imaginative investigation based on the principles of social and environmental equity and justice. Engaging with notions of transformation, reuse, regeneration, reparation, and transition of habitats and ecologies, the MAS deploys the urban and territorial project as the crucial field of knowledge production across scales.
For further information concerning the programme, tuition fees, scholarships and how to apply, please check our link on bio or contact us:
Info-masutd@ethz.ch
***
GRAPHIC CONCEPT
Goda Budvytytè @godabud
Highlight 2024: @sanaa_jimusho @rolex Learning Center @epflcampus Lausanne
campus architecture photography lovers
[ETHZ STUDIO TOPALOVIĆ MAS UTD Final Projects]
EDIBLE COMMONS: ON THE SOUTHERN SLOPE OF ZÜRICHBERG
Agriculture and the commons have a long-shared history. This is not only true for the Swiss alpine village of Törbel–the basis for Elinor Ostrom’s book “Governing the Commons”–but also for the City of Zurich. In contrast to Törbel, where collective management and organisation of meadows, barns, forests, vineyards and irrigation channels have persisted and form a resilient ecosystem, they have been lost on Zürichberg (Ostrom 1990 and Netting 1981). Our project investigates the revival of common food production in the City of Zurich.
The Edible Commons is supported by local Food Councils, where inhabitants, food growing communities, local authorities and institutions meet in dialogue. Historically, institutions have paved the way for the urbanisation of this exclusive hill. In the Food Council they assume the social responsibility associated with this privilege, providing space and collective infrastructure for food growing communities. Starting from a feminist perspective, the Edible Commons revalorises reproductive work and everyday life through the emphasis on food. This aims to raise awareness in the Zurich population, as most of Swiss food is imported from elsewhere. In the new landscape of Agoras, Edible Gardens and pathways, centres of sociality are established, where social cohesion is strengthened and the environment regenerated (Federici 2019). By sharing experiences, resources and knowledge, a food-enabling urban landscape takes shape on Zürichberg: an Edible Commons.
Team: Hiroaki Anamizu, Khyati Andrapiya, and Francis Schoups
Find all the projects in the link in our bio!
[ETHZ STUDIO TOPALOVIĆ MAS UTD Final Projects]
COMMONWOODS: A COMMUNALLY MANAGED AGROECOLOGICAL ZONE AT THE EDGE OF UETLIBERG
The Uetliberg forest is a significant recreational oasis within Zurich, serving as one of its primary public spaces. Maintained under strict protection measures, similar to other Swiss forests established by law in 1967, this area has remained largely unchanged despite Zurich’s urban expansion. Originally protected for timber industry control, it is now protected to fulfill ecological, social, and recreational functions as Zurich grows exponentially.
While the city’s expansion hasn’t directly impacted the forest’s borders, it has affected the number of trees beyond the forest limits—the “unprotected” zone. Alongside the disappearance of orchards, the tree count in Zurich is declining at a rate of 4.6% per year. Additionally, other forest functions, such as water bodies and soil protection, have disappeared beyond the forest border—streams are placed underground, and soil becomes irrelevant. Despite being perceived as the strong ecological backbone of the city, the forest also faces vulnerability to climate change: its primary species—beech and spruce—are at risk of disappearing.
In response, we propose a new forest typology, an urban commonly managed forest, which we refer to as the “commonwoods”. This concept encompasses the existing forest and extends beyond the traditional managed forest and strict protection zones, and its role as a compensation area. It encompasses adjacent agricultural areas and the built-up area, where farmers and the local community become stewards of this new zone. By doing so, the forest’s ecology extends into the agricultural zone pushing into the city.
Team: Erze Dinarama and Manson Fung
Find all the projects in the link in our bio!
[ETHZ STUDIO TOPALOVIĆ MAS UTD Final Projects]
FOLDING AGRARIAN EDGES: A VISION FOR DÜBENDORF
Where the city of Dübendorf ends, the landscape rapidly shifts from multifunctional high-rise and industrial buildings and large furniture stores to a neatly manicured agricultural belt. This belt is bound by both the city edge on one side and the protected edge of the forest, a sharply defined line at the edge of the monocultural fields. The abrupt edges at the limits of Zürich result from multiscalar processes of zoning and land protection measures that aim to mediate the distribution of land between three main land-use “forces”: food production, accommodation of a rapidly growing population and nature preservation.
In a context where substantial demographic changes and extensive densification of the urban fabric are foreseen, we ask whether the agricultural belt surrounding Dübendorf can become a mediating fabric that diffuses the edges of nature protection and settlement. What mechanisms can generate programmatic flexibilities between the land uses of Dübendorf?
The project aims to reconstruct exchanges between agriculture and the urban, expanding into the densely urbanized area of Dübendorf city and supporting the formation of “edible” public spaces. Agriculture then unfolds in a series of practices that start from the extension of the forest edge into a layer of fodder shrubs and rotational grazing, which weaves through the agricultural fabric and pushes back the city edge.
Team: Antonia Gerogianni and Diana Zarnescu
Find all the projects in the link in our bio!
[ETHZ STUDIO TOPALOVIĆ MAS UTD Final Projects]
LIVING IN THE AGROECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE: URDORF AND UITIKON
This project explores the potential of transforming the open space of the Reppisch Valley into an agroecological landscape. The valley is highly urbanized due to the expansion of Zurich city and its open fields are now under development pressure and are being surrounded by infrastructure and urban or industrial development. A similar tendency can be observed throughout the canton of Zurich, hence this type of urban enclosure of agricultural land produces what has been defined here as an “agricultural courtyard”. The first section documents site visits and interviews with local farms to give an in-depth understanding of the Reppisch Valley from the farmer’s perspective; the second section reviews the historical development of the Reppisch Valley and defines the “agricultural courtyard”; section three looks into the potential of transforming the agricultural courtyard into an Agroecological Oasis, strengthened through socio-ecological infrastructure.
Team: Yifeng Xie
Find all the projects in the link in our bio!
[MAS UTD ETHZ EPFL – Final Showcase, spring 2024]
FINAL SHOWCASE DESIGN STUDIO ETHZ “Urban agroecology for Zürich”
Our Final Showcase of the MAS Studio Urban Agroecology for the Zürich Metropolitan Core which took place and hosted by Gutsbetrieb Juchhof, a Stadt Zürich Farm found within the urban fabric run by Grün Stadt Zürich. The final celebration showcased the work of the students over the Spring Semester.
Grün Stadt Zürich stands as a pioneering entity in advancing agroecological practices within the city of Zürich. With stewardship over more than 800 hectares of agricultural land, Grün Stadt Zürich is leading the initiative towards establishing a more sustainable relationship with food production and consumption.
We were delighted to be joined by Joachim Declerck, Architect and Founder Architecture Workroom Brussels; Anja Frost and Bernhard Koch, Grün Stadt Zürich; Dr. Naomi C. Hanakata, planner and Asst.Prof. at the National University of Singapore; Dr. Nitin Bathla, Chair of Sociology, ETH Zürich; James Melsom, Landscape Architect and PhD Researcher, ETH Zürich and UTS Sydney.
Visit our website for more information and stay updated on our latest initiatives!
[EPFL STUDIO VIGANÒ MAS UTD Final Projects]
ON THE ZADIST PATH: LIVING EARTH ON DEPLETED LAND
What if we start rethinking our current extractivist way of living? What if we start retaking care for the land we live on?
The Chamberonne Watershed of east Lausanne - a combination of the Sorge, Mebre and Chamberonne rivers serves as the territory of discovery for creating a new system of communal social and ecological banks, the foundation of a true extraction and material neutral circular society.
A healthy soil is crucial for the production of food and drinking water, flood and climate control, and biodiversity. And in stark contrast to the pace at which life in soils is generated, we – humans – are rapidly depleting the land of its natural resources. This project proposes soil banks reclaim formerly depleted areas. A landscape emerges where soil and waste become common resources. The current paradigm is challenged and nature’s capital is slowly and steadily restored for future human and non-human generations.
Team: Francis Schoups
Find all the projects in the link in our bio!
[EPFL STUDIO VIGANÒ MAS UTD Final Projects]
RESURFACING WATER AND ITS STORIES: THE EMERGENCE OF A SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL THRESHOLD FOR AN URBAN WATERSHED
Lausanne is a territory shaped by water, featuring a complex water system that flows both above and below ground. The project’s objective is to examine the territory through the water’s perspective, encapsulating the notion of bringing attention back to water and its narratives, both in terms of the physical presence and the stories woven around water. It is an effort to revisit, explore, and reevaluate the significance of water in a context where rivers and rainwater are managed through pipes underground.
The Flon watershed is characterized by canalized rivers, with water management predominantly taking place underground. The project focuses on the resurfacing of water in urban watersheds, the reconstruction of the urban watershed, and the challenges associated with bringing to the surface waters that have been canalized.
Remaining critical of the way water has been managed in urban areas, the project explores the potential of leveraging existing and ongoing infrastructure works and technologies in the city, to make way for a new landscape of surface water and the social-ecological threshold that it generates around it. Ultimately, it engages in a discussion on the compromises necessary to give agency to water and ameliorate the natural environment within urban watersheds.
Water, as a vital component of the environment, promotes the well-being of entire ecosystems. It is an effort to reflect on the importance of ecological balance and the need to move beyond anthropocentric views in environmental management.
Team: Erze Dinarama, Gautham Ramesh and Diana Zarnescu
Find all the projects in the link in our bio!
[EPFL STUDIO VIGANÒ MAS UTD Final Projects]
WATER AS COMMONS: EXTENDING THE AGE, MEMORY AND CONTINUITY OF WATER IN LA VENOGE
Commoning in Venoge Watershed: Reimagining the dynamics between nature and humans, built and unbuilt, the individual and the collective through the gaze of co-existence.
The project addresses climate-induced pressures on the socio-ecological water system through water rights to dynamically reshape the territory’s spatial, social, ecological, and political dimensions. The Venoge River is often perceived as a background object within its territory. Instead, we pivot our gaze to view water as the subject and as a dynamic catalyst for activating and reshaping common spaces.
By considering it a common space and a stage for a new way of living, with a firm grounding in social collective responsibility, the river’s spatial structure is redesigned from one where ownership rights are conflicted to one where multiple stakeholders and their interests are shared.
Team: Hiroaki Anamizu, Khyati Andrapiya, Manson Fung, and Antonia Gerogianni
Find all the projects in the link in our bio!
[MAS UTD ETHZ EPFL – Final Showcase, fall 2023]
FINAL SHOWCASE DESIGN STUDIO EPFL “Counterprojects of coexistence”
The Showcase Review for the MAS UTD Autumn Semester 2023 at the EPFL took place in the EPFL Campus on January 2023. The students presented their projects to the MAS staff of the EPFL and ETHZ as well as invited guests from the local territory and fields of spatial development, mobility planning, activism, architecture and organic agriculture.
In the last months, they explored “counterprojects”, asking new questions, imagining counter spaces. Spaces with new publics, projects for a new society of co-existence. We counter by looking not at new natures but existing natures in new ways, through new eyes. In thinking and working across the scales from the individual to the territory, we combine lectures on social sciences, environmental histories and urban ecologies, sessions on systems thinking, material circularities and metabolisms, to create the theoretical basis for the counterprojects of our studio.
We congratulate all the MAS UTD participants and look forward to meeting them at ETHZ for the spring semester of 2024!
Visit our website for more information and stay updated on our latest initiatives!
Critiques semestrielles de l'atelier RELIEFS URBAINS
Cette semaine ont eu lieu les critiques semestrielles des ateliers d’architecture à l’Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne. Pour l’atelier du Prof. Emmanuel Rey, ce fut l’occasion de discuter le travail en cours de plus d’une trentaine d’étudiantes et étudiants œuvrant à la conception d’un nouveau quartier situé sur les coteaux de la ville de Neuchâtel. Les experts invités à cette occasion étaient Sibylle Kössler, architecte à Lausanne, et Cyril Lecoultre, architecte à Nyon.
@last_epfl @epflarchitecture @epflenac @tim.beuret.photo @bunq_architectes
_epfl
https://actu.epfl.ch/news/critiques-semestrielles-de-l-atelier-reliefs-urb-2/
[MAS UTD ETHZ EPFL – Opening Day 2023-2024]
LAUNCH OF THE MAS UTD ETHZ/EPFL 2023-2024
Tuesday, September 12th marked the opening of the semester at EPFL in the presence of ENAC and EPFL Extension School representatives. Eleven international participants coming from Belgium, India, China, USA, Japan, Canada, Greece have thus begun their post-grad experience at EPFL, which will end at the end of January as they will leave for their second semester at ETHZ.
Prof. Paola Viganò, on behalf of the whole MAS UTD teaching staff, introduced them to the themes of the courses, which focus on the idea of “Counterprojects of Coexistence”: imagining alternative futures for contemporary city-territory in times of ecological, economic, and social transition.
On the same occasion, the Graduation Ceremony was held for the 2022-23 edition participants. Congratulations to all of them, and best wishes for their future engagements in shaping contemporary territories!
Visit our website for more information and stay updated on our latest initiatives!
[ETHZ STUDIO TOPALOVIĆ MAS UTD Final Projects]
A LANDSCAPE ROOM OF COMMONS: REGENERATIVE ENGAGEMENT IN ZURICH NORTH
There is a truce on the northern edges of Zurich. On the side of the urban footprint, a tendency for densification internal to the urban fabric. On the side of farms and protected areas, strong regulation creates a barrier to their shrinking. Stable borders invite a rearrangement of the landscape and agroecological relations on another level of participation and engagement between the inhabitants of these areas, workers, occasional users, as well as non-human agents such as soil, water, and air, among others.
Some initiatives of agricultural production supported by the community around the city and present in the study area inspire the proposal of a broad and integrated territorial vision facing the challenges of social transformations, consumption-food production, and climate change. Could we think of a reordering that can, at the same time, regenerate the soil and the agroecological fabric and re-approach the consumer to the productive processes through arrangements based on solidarity action? Can we delineate other landscape rooms in the metropolitan region?
Team: Leonie Ismene Ehrler, Serena Neuenschwander, Paulo Olivato, and Livie Weidkuhn
Find all the projects in the link in our bio!
@habitat_epfl @epflarchitecture @epflenac @lab_u_epfl @ethzarchitecture @ethzurich @architecture.of.territory
[ETHZ STUDIO TOPALOVIĆ MAS UTD Final Projects]
FAIR: REVERSING MONOCULTURAL SYSTEMS IN ZURICH UNTERLAND
The Swiss plateau is characterized by highly industrialized plantations and is conquered by monocultural practices. The landscape is populated by crops occasionally interrupted by fragments of forest, urban areas, and transport infrastructure. This is the result of a series of events that have occurred over time and are inextricably linked with the implementation of legislation, subsides, industrialization, and mechanization which have turned the agricultural landscape into a production machine, constantly fed with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides at the expense of all natural living systems (FSO, 2023). Furthermore, the dependence of the Swiss economy on international food cooperations and globalized agribusinesses reinforces the use of monocultural practices. It negatively influences those who live and survive through the heart of agriculture, while at the same time focusing on more efficient and prompt production, while marginalizing crops and varieties that are traditionally grown in Switzerland (Saatgut-Ausstellung, 2022).
Monocultures contribute to soil degradation, loss of ecological diversity, and reduced resilience in agricultural systems. This project aims to propose an alternative to how to change the connection and relationship between man and land, to reimagine the concept of place as a container of life and as a topos, while humans survive by coexisting with all lifeworlds in peace, without destroying the sources of life. For this reason, we will investigate how mixed culture can operate as catalysis to monocultural agribusinesses and how the relations between the leading agricultural players can be reshaped to achieve a fair system.
Team: Aikaterini Katsouli, Mateus Rosa da Silveira, Nick Ulrich, and Sofia Urzainqui de Miguel
Find all the projects in the link in our bio!
@habitat_epfl @epflarchitecture @epflenac @lab_u_epfl @ethzarchitecture @ethzurich @architecture.of.territory