Search result: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2021

Architecture Bachelor Information
Bachelor Studies (Programme Regulations 2017)
Examination Blocks
Examination Block 1
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
052-0608-00LStructural Design IV Information O2 credits3GJ. Schwartz, P. Block
AbstractIn Structural Design IV, students will apply the knowledge gained during the courses Structural Design I, II and III in a semester-long design project.
ObjectiveAt the conclusion of Structural Design IV, the students will be able to:
- design structures creatively.
- identify the relationships between architectural concept, structural form, internal forces and building materials.
- effectuate the transition from architectural concept to structural idea.
- use graphic statics in a design-oriented manner.
- generate structural forms beyond known structural typologies.
- explore spatial equilibrium by means of physical models.
ContentThe course begins with a series of lectures in which built projects with a succesful integration between architecture and structure are presented. After, the students, in groups of four, design the structure of an architectural project using graphic statics and physical models. The development of the design proposal is supported during table critics and its evolution is assessed in intermediate submissions. At the end of the semester, all projects are reviewed by structural engineers, structural designers and architects.
Lecture noteson eQuilibrium
"Skript Tragwerksentwurf I/II/III/IV"
Link

Printed versions can be bought at the chair of Structural Design Prof. Schwartz.
Literature- "The art of structures, Introduction to the functioning of structures in architecture"
(Aurelio Muttoni, EPFL Press, 2011, ISBN-13: 978-0415610292, ISBN-10: 041561029X)

- "Faustformel Tragwerksentwurf"
(Philippe Block, Christoph Gengangel, Stefan Peters,
DVA Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2013, ISBN: 978-3-421-03904-0)

- "Form and Forces: Designing Efficient, Expressive Structures"
(Edward Allen, Waclaw Zalewski, October 2009, ISBN: 978-0-470-17465-4)
Prerequisites / NoticeTo take part in this course, it is recommended to first complete the courses Structural Design I, II and III or to have knowledge of graphic statics.
052-0806-00LHistory and Theory of Architecture IV Information O2 credits2VL. Stalder
AbstractThis two-semester course is an introduction to the history of architecture from the Second Industrial Revolution in the 1850s to the Oil Crisis in the 1970s in Europe. Students will be able to identify the “things”—technical objects and ensembles—that transformed architecture, and to relate them to the technical, scientific, and cultural concerns that introduced them as key features of modernity.
ObjectiveTo introduce students to the history and theory of architecture, the course has three objectives.
First, students will be able to identify the “things” that transformed architecture in modernity, and the crucial events, buildings, theories, and actors that characterize their history.
Second, students will be able to describe how these “things” operated at different scales, focusing less on the formal level, and naming instead the different forms of expertise that constituted them historically, as well as the processes within which they were embedded.
Third, students will be able to reflect on a series of apparatuses, devices, and building parts that are in fact micro-architectures which have often been neglected, despite their pivotal role in shaping the daily lives of modern societies.
ContentThe course proposes a new approach to the study of the history and theory of architecture in Europe during modernity. It focuses less on single architects or their buildings, and more on those “things” that have brought profound transformations in the built environment and daily life over the last 200 years, such as the revolving door, the clock, and the partition.
The notion of “thing” includes both the concrete building parts and the concerns associated with them, such as material performance, social synchronization, and individual expression. To understand buildings as assemblages of “things,” therefore, does not mean to diminish their significance, but on the contrary to add reality to them, to understand them in terms of the complex, historically situated, and diverse concerns within which they were designed.
Each lecture introduces one “thing” through a genealogy that shaped it, from patents and scientific discoveries and technological advancement, to cinema, the visual arts, and literature. A set of renowned projects as well as lesser-known buildings from all around Europe offer a variety of case studies to describe these “things,” to understand how they operated in relation with one another, and to identify the theories and tactics that architects mobilized to make sense of them.
Lecture notesLink
Prerequisites / NoticeLocation:
1. hour: Lecture: Link
2./3. hour: Seminars in groups on Zoom
052-0636-00LMathematical Thinking and Programming IV Information O2 credits2VL. Hovestadt
AbstractAdvanced knowledge of the CAD Programme "Blender"
Advanced knowledge of "Lambda Calculus" and "Mathematica"
ObjectiveAdvanced knowlede of the CAD program "Blender"
Advanced knowlede of "Lambda Calculus" and the programming environment "Mathematica".
ContentIntroduction to the consistent processing of the following media per code: text, colour, image, graphs, graphic (2D and 3D), animation and web.
Examination Block 2
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
151-8004-00LBuilding Physics III: Building Energy Demand and Urban Physics Information O2 credits2GJ. Carmeliet, K. Orehounig
AbstractBasics and application of thermal comfort, building energy demand and urban physics.
ObjectiveThe students acquire basic knowledge in building energy demand and urban physics and apply the knowledge to the design of low energy buildings and mitigation of urban climate.
ContentTopics of the course are:
- climatic change & energy
- thermal comfort and transparent envelopes
- stationary energy demand
- dynamic heat transport
- urban physics: urban heat island, wind, rain
- durability
Lecture notesThe course lectures and material are available on the Website for download (MOODLE Link).
052-0802-00LGlobal History of Urban Design II Information O2 credits2VT. Avermaete
AbstractThis course focuses on the history of the city, as well as on the ideas, processes and actors that propel their development and transformation. This course approaches the history of urban design as a cross-cultural field of knowledge that integrates scientific, economic and technical innovation as well as social and cultural change.
ObjectiveThe lectures in this course deal with the definition of urban design as an independent discipline that nevertheless maintains strong connections with other disciplines and fields that affect the transformation of the city (e.g. politics, sociology, geography, etc). The aim is to introduce students to the multiple theories, concepts and approaches of urban design that have been articulated from the turn of the 20th century to today, in a variety of cultural contexts. The course thus offers a historical and theoretical framework for students’ future design work.
Content25.02.2021 / lecture 1: Course introduction
04.03.2021 / lecture 2: Housing and the Industrial City: From Speculative to Cooperative
11.03.2021 / lecture 3: Cities and Ideologies: Building for Healthy Minds in Healthy Bodies
18.03.2021 / lecture 4: Envisioning Urban Utopias
25.03.2021: no class (Seminar Woche)
01.04.2021 / lecture 5: Reconstructing the City, Constructing New Towns
08.04.2021: no class (Easter)
15.04.2021 / lecture 6: New Capitals for New Democracies; New Institutions for Old Democracies
22.04.2021 / lecture 7: Rethinking Masterplanning
29.04.2020 / lecture 8: The Countercultural City
06.05.2020 / lecture 9: The Postmodern City: From Neo-rationalism to Neo-liberalism
20.05.2020 / lecture 10: Urban Implosion
Lecture notesPrior to each lecture a chapter of the reader (Skript) will be made available through the webpage of the Chair. These Skripts will introduce the lecture, as well as the basic visual references of each lecture, key dates and events, and references to further/additional readings.
LiteratureThere are three books that will function as main reference literature throughout the course:

Eric Mumford, Designing the Modern City: Urban Design Since 1850 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018)

Francis D. K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek and Vikramditya Prakash, A Global History of Architecture (Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2017)

David Grahame Shane, Urban Design Since 1945: A Global Perspective (Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2011)

These books will be reserved for consultation in the ETH Baubibliothek, and will not be available for individual loans. A list of further recommended literature will be found within each chapter of the reader (Skript).
Prerequisites / NoticeHybrid teaching: 33/66 (face-to-face/online, changing). 1/3 in auditorium, 2/3 Streaming from home, changing every week.
The groups are formed on the first day of lecture.
052-0708-00LUrban Design IV Information O2 credits2VH. Klumpner, M. Fessel
AbstractStudents are introduced to a narrative of 'Urban Stories' through a series of three tools driven by social, governance, and environmental transformations in today's urbanization processes. Each lecture explores one city's spatial and organizational ingenuity born out of a particular place's realities, allowing students to transfer these inventions into a catalog of conceptual tools.
ObjectiveHow can students of architecture become active agents of change? What does it take to go beyond a building's scale, making design-relevant decisions to the city rather than a single client? How can we design in cities with a lack of land, tax base, risk, and resilience, understanding that Zurich is the exception and these other cities are the rule? How can we discover, set rather than follow trends and understand existing urban phenomena activating them in a design process? The lecture series produces a growing catalog of operational urban tools across the globe, considering Governance, Social, and Environmental realities. Instead of limited binary comparing of cities, we are building a catalog of change, analyzing what design solutions cities have been developing informally incrementally over time, why, and how. We look at the people, institutions, culture behind the design and make concepts behind these tools visible. Students get first-hand information from cities where the chair as a Team has researched, worked, or constructed projects over the last year, allowing competent, practical insight about the people and topics that make these places unique. Students will be able to use and expand an alternative repertoire of experiences and evidence-based design tools, go to the conceptual core of them, and understand how and to what extent they can be relevant in other places. Urban Stories is the basic practice of architecture and urban design. It introduces a repertoire of urban design instruments to the students to use, test, and start their designs.
ContentUrban form cannot be reduced to physical space. Cities result from social construction, under the influence of technologies, ecology, culture, the impact of experts, and accidents. Urban un-concluded processes respond to political interests, economic pressure, cultural inclinations, along with the imagination of architects and urbanists and the informal powers at work in complex adaptive systems. Current urban phenomena are the result of urban evolution. The facts stored in urban environments include contributions from its entire lifecycle, visible in the physical environment, but also for non-physical aspects. This imaginary city exists along with its potentials and problems and with the conflicts that have evolved. Knowledge and understanding, and critical observation of the actions and policies are necessary to understand the diversity and instability present in the contemporary city and understand how urban form evolved to its current state.

How did cities develop into the cities we live in now? Urban plans, instruments, visions, political decisions, economic reasonings, cultural inputs, and social organizations have been used to operate in urban settlements in specific moments of change. We have chosen cities that exemplify how these instruments have been implemented and how they have shaped urban environments. We transcribe these instruments into urban operational tools that we have recognized and collected within existing tested cases in contemporary cities across the globe.

This lecture series will introduce urban knowledge and the way it has introduced urban models and operational modes within different concrete realities, therefore shaping cities. The lecture series will translate urban knowledge into operational tools extracted from cities where they have been tested and become exemplary samples, most relevant for understanding how the urban landscape has taken shape. The tools are clustered in twelve thematic clusters and three tool scales for better comparability and cross-reflection.

The Tool case studies are compiled into a global urbanization toolbox, which we use as typological models to read the city and critically reflect upon it. The presented contents are meant to serve as inspiration for positioning in future professional life and provide instruments for future design decisions.

In an interview with a local designer, we measure our insights against the most pressing design topics in cities today, including inclusion, affordable housing, provision of public spaces, and infrastructure for all.
Lecture notesThe learning material, available via Link is comprised of:
- Toolbox 'Reader' with an introduction to the lecture course and tool summaries
- Weekly exercise tasks
- Infographics with basic information of each city
- Quiz question for each tool
- Additional reading material
- Interviews with experts
- Archive of lecture recordings
Literature- Reading material will be provided throughout the semester.
- Please see ‘Skript’, (a digital reader is available).
Prerequisites / Notice"Semesterkurs" (semester course) students from other departments, students taking this lecture as GESS / Studium Generale course, and exchange students must submit a research paper, which will be subject to the performance assessment: "Bestanden" (pass) or "Nicht bestanden" (failed). The performance assessment type for "Urban Design III: Urban Stories" taken as a semester course is categorized as "unbenotete Semesterleistung" (ungraded semester performance).
Examination Block 3
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
052-0808-00LHistory and Theory of Architecture VI (P. Ursprung) Information O2 credits2VP. Ursprung
AbstractHistory of Art and Architecture since the 1970s
ObjectiveKnowledge of the history of art and architecture since the 1970s. Sensibility for historical processes and for the concepts in the realm of visual culture.
ContentThe two-semester course offers an introduction to the history of modern and contemporary art and architecture since ca. 1970. Motivated by questions of the current discourse, central topics and exemplary works of art and architecture are discussed. Concepts such as "labor", "economy", "experience", "research", "nature", "diversity" or "surface" are used to focus on specific historical developments and connections. Art and architecture is considered as a field of cultural change as well as an indicator of social, economic, and political conflicts which in turn helps to understand historical dynamics.
Lecture notesA video documentation of the lecture class is available.
LiteratureRequired reading will be announced in the class and on the website of the chair.
052-0652-00LBuilding Process II Information O2 credits2VS. Menz
AbstractThe building process is the main focus of this lecture series. The process is understood as a sequence of criteria in time.
Topics: Building legislation, building economics, the people involved and their work, construction and planning organization and facility management.
Process thinking, acquisition and a glance at our foreign neighbours complete the series.
ObjectiveAlongside a discussion of the basic principles, trends and terminologies, a closer look will be taken at each topic using case studies that investigate current structures as well as those relevant in terms of architecture and urban design.
ContentThe building process is the main focus of this lecture series. The process is understood as a sequence of criteria in time. These criteria are divided into building legislation, building economics, the people involved and their work, construction and planning organization and facility management. Process thinking, acquisition and a glance at our foreign neighbours complete the series.
Alongside a discussion of the basic principles, trends and terminologies, a closer look will be taken at each topic using case studies that investigate current structures as well as those relevant in terms of architecture and urban design. Active participation as well as interdisciplinary and process-oriented thinking on the part of students is a prerequisite.
Lecture notesLink; The recordings of the lectures are also available on the MAP under this link (book symbol at the top right).
LiteratureLiteraturempfehlungen unter Link
052-0706-00LLandscape Architecture II Information O2 credits2VC. Girot
AbstractThe lecture series gives an introduction to the field of contemporary landscape architecture. The course
provides a perspective on forthcoming landscape architecture in terms of the aspects site, soil, water and
vegetation.
ObjectiveOverview to contemporary and forthcoming tasks of landscape architecture. A critical reflection of the
present design practice and discussion of new approaches in landscape architecture.
ContentThe lecture series "Theory and Design in Contemporary Landscape Architecture" (Landscape Architecure
II) follows the lecture series "History and Theory of Garden Design and Landscape Architecture"
(Landscape Architecure I). Rather than concentrating only on questions of style, the series will also tackle
issues such as revitalisation, sustainability etc. The lectures review design approaches that critically
reflect our inherited perception of nature. The themes of site, soil, water and vegetation provide some
useful aspects for the design practice.
Lecture notesNo script. Handouts and learning material will be provided.
LiteratureA reading list will be provided for the exams.
Prerequisites / NoticeGeneral Information for the final exam:

Bachelor students: The content of the lectures as well as texts and exam-relevant literature provided by the Chair make up the basis for preparing for the exam. The lecture series is conceived as a yearlong course. Since the written session examination tests knowledge from both semesters. It is necessary to attend the lectures throughout the course of the year.
The test themes will be announced at the end of the semester. The Chair will provide literature and texts available for download as pdfs. These allow a more in-depth understanding of the lecture material.

Transfer students or students of other departments: Students attending one semester may opt to take only the oral end-of-semester examination. Test-relevant literature will also be made available for download for this purpose. The students are requested to get in touch by email with the Chair.
052-0610-00LEnergy and Climate Systems II Information O2 credits2GA. Schlüter
AbstractThe second semester of the annual course focuses on physical principles, component and systems for the efficient and sustainable supply with electricity, daylight and artificial light. This includes concepts of on-site generation of energy, building systems controls and human-building interaction. Additionally, larger scale building energy systems for districts are discussed.
ObjectiveThe lecture series focuses on the physical principles and technical components of relevant systems for an efficient and sustainable climatisation and energy supply of buildings. A special focus is on the interrelation of supply systems and architectural design and construction. Learning and practicing methods of quantifying demand and supply allows identifying parameters relevant for design.
ContentEfficient buildings and integrated design
Renewable, on-site energy generation
Daylight and artificial light
Intelligent buildings: automation and user
Urban energy systems
Lecture notesThe slides of the lecture serve as lecture notes and are available as download.
LiteratureA list of relevant literature is available at the chair.
052-0508-00LArchitectural Technology VI Information O2 credits2GK. Z. Weber, A. Thuy
AbstractThe lecture series explores the correlation among intentions of design, architectonic expression and construction premises. These critical areas or aspects of study, which are presented with selected projects, their respective theoretical backgrounds and historical development, are pluralistically associated and brought into relation with varying contemporary opinion.
ObjectiveThe final part of the lecture series Konstruktion V/VI aims to analyse (structural) construction techniques and their formal appearance and expression in their interrelation.
The different themed parts of structural design, building shell and knowledge of material get connected with architectural design in practice and reflected in the wider context of architectural theory. The intention is to consolidate the understanding of the connection between structure, process and formal appearance and expression in the architecture of the 20th century.
ContentThe lecture series in the course entitled Architecture and Construction explores the correlation among intentions of design, architectonic expression and construction premises. Each lecture is focused on individual themes, as for example, the application of certain materials (glass, or natural stone), of particular construction systems (tectonic, hybrid) or design generators (grids, series) and alternatively the search for a definable, tangible architectural expression (vernacular architecture, readymades). These critical areas or aspects of study, which are presented with their respective theoretical backgrounds and historical development, are pluralistically associated and brought into relation with varying contemporary opinion. The yearlong lecture cycle is comprised of twenty individual lectures, in which the majority of projects being analyzed date from the last few decades.
Lecture notesThe brochures published by the chair offer additional help. Knowledge of these brochures and their key subjects is recommended for the exam. The brochures can be ordered at the chair after the last lecture before the examination. However, the subject matters of the brochures and the lectures are not identical, the brochures provide information for a deeper understanding of the lectures. Apart from additional articles written by the chair, the brochures are composed of three modules: Project documentation, crucial texts on the work reception as well as theoretical articles about the particular thematic priorities by various authors. Concerning their content these anthologies allow insights into a wide range of theories, lines of reasoning and fields of research up to diverging point of views of specific problems.
Prerequisites / NoticeGeneral remarks (on exam as well as exam preparation)
The comprehensive topics of the lectures are the subject matter of the exam. The lectures are scheduled for a full year (Konstruktion V/VI) and therefore the knowledge of the subject matter of the running as well as of the preceding semester's lectures is required. To improve your chances to pass the examination at first try, we strongly recommend you to take the exam after having visited the lecture during two semesters. A “Leistungselement" as an interim examn will take place as part of the lecture in the first half of the semester. The interim examn is voluntary. It will be conducted under examn conditions and will be graded. Its grade will contribute to the overall grade of the course, if it has a positive influence.

If you are an exchange student, or a student from a different department and wish to take a partial examination covering only the subject matter of the last semester (Konstruktion V or VI), you need to contact the chair in advance.
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