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Part II: Catalogue

An Atlas as a Shared Body of Knowledge

As part of this autumn semester's theme, OFF Site, students collectively investigated and analysed 78 architectural precedents across different periods, cultures, climates, and construction traditions.

Each student examined one project through a common framework, exploring its relationship to inhabitation, environment, material, movement, assembly, and time.

Through digital and physical modelling, writing, measuring, diagramming, and reconstructing assembly sequences, students critically examined each precedent, uncovering its underlying architectural principles, potentials, and limitations.

The individual investigations were assembled into a shared catalogue: an atlas of architectural knowledge that serves as a resource for Part III.

Rather than treating precedents as images to imitate, students were encouraged to read them critically, identifying principles that could be transferred, challenged, or reinterpreted in new architectural contexts. The central question was: What can we learn from precedents and how can that knowledge inform another architecture?

We look forward to seeing how the knowledge gained will be translated into and applied in Part III.

Take a look at the students’ fantastic efforts!

Flurina A., Sophie A., Emma A., Angel A., Frida A., Anna A., Lourdes B., Dominique B., Abril B., Noah B., Anna-Sofia B., Nora B., Mara B., Neva B., Ahura C., Luca C., Lina C., Blin C., Tamara C., Luka C., Blenta D., Lino E., Lars E., Adélaide E., Somea F., Mattia F., Jeremia F., Fiona G., Pascal G., Oliver G., Teodora G., Felina G., Pia G., Endrit H., Liam H., Ioanna I., Luca I., Anna Lena J., Leon J., Panagiotis K., Nora K., Levin K., Mostafa L., Helena L., Fynn L., Hannah L., Luca L., Lorena M., Mona M., Valérie M., Mona M., Travis M., Pascal M., Vivien N., Maxence O., Gergana P., Nicolas R., Alisha R., Alba S. M., Charlotte S., Nathalie S., Ana S., Leonis S.-d.-P., Sophie S., Elena S., Meret S., Anna S., Oliver T., Caterina V., Jan V., Nicola V., Lydia W., Melanie Rose W., Janine W., Thiemo Z., Yintian Z., Anouk Z., Charles Z.
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Today, we welcomed Philippe Rahm to ETH Zurich for a workshop with our students, Re-evaluating Shelter Precedents Through the Lens of climate, followed by a lecture on climatic architecture.

Through his work and thinking, we explored new ways of understanding architecture through climate, temperature, and the human body, challenging conventional approaches to shelter and the built environment.

Students investigated four principles of climatic design: convection, conduction, evaporation, and radiation, rethinking shelter in relation to the physical processes that shape our comfort.

A heartfelt thank you to Philippe Rahm for sharing your insights and approach with our school and students, and for inspiring new ways of thinking about the relationship between architecture and climate.

#ETHZurich #PhilippeRahm #ClimaticArchitecture #ArchitectureAndClimate
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SIA MASTER PRIZE 2026 — RECOGNITION „HILti“ by Hannes Pabst

We are delighted to share that Hannes Pabst, who developed his Master Thesis at the MESA Chair, ETH Zürich, has been awarded a recognition by the jury of the SIA Master Prize Architecture 2026.

HILti — Architecture not as an image but as an act
What if the HIL Building at ETH Zürich were never completed, but remained constantly under construction?
Through his Master Thesis, Hannes Pabst challenges the growing separation between theory and practice in architectural education, proposing the construction site itself as a space for learning, experimentation, and collective knowledge production.
Combining extensive research into institutional frameworks, building regulations, and construction processes with hands-on experimentation, the project reimagines the HIL Building as an open, evolving structure where building becomes a form of thinking.
Rather than proposing a finished architectural object, HILti presents a strategy for continuous transformation, questioning how architecture is taught, practiced, and ultimately understood.

Congratulations, Hannes, on this well-deserved recognition!

Photo 6: Manu Friederich

@mesa_chair_ethz @darch.ethz @ethzurich @sia_schweiz

#SIAMasterPrize #SIAMasterpreis #ETHZurich #ETHZ #DARCH #MESAChair #Architecture #MasterThesis #ArchitecturalEducation #ArchitectureResearch #LearningByDoing #AdaptiveReuse #ConstructionAsLearning
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LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENT

Join us for a lecture by Philippe Rahm.

📅 Wednesday, 28 October 2026
🕛 12:00–14:00
📍 HIL E3 - Hörsaal / Kleinauditorium

Save the date and join us for an inspiring lecture!

Philippe Rahm is a Swiss architect based in Paris and principal of Philippe Rahm architectes. His work explores the relationship between architecture, climate, and human physiology, extending architectural practice towards meteorology and environmental sustainability. Internationally recognized for his innovative approach to climate-responsive architecture,
He has held professorships at the AA School in London (2005-2006), Mendrisio Academy of Architecture in Switzerland (2004 - 2005), ETH Lausanne (2006 - 2007), School of Architecture of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts of Copenhagen (2009-2010), in Oslo at the AHO (2010-2011), at Cornell University (2019-2021), at Columbia University (2016) and 2023 where Mr. Rahm is currently Dean’s Visiting Associate Professor. From 2010 to 2012, he held the Jean Labatut Professorship in Princeton University, USA. He is currently a tenured associate professor at the National Superior School of Architecture in Versailles, France (ENSA-V) and Studio Critic at HEAD-Genève. He has lectured widely, including at Yale, Beijing Forum, UCLA and the ETH Zürich. In 2020, he is the curator and author of the exhibition and book “Natural History of Architecture” at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris. Climatic architecture”, a monographic book is published at Fall 2023.
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Come by HIL G60 and discover our students’ studio tables!

The semester begins with a collective warm-up exercise: building the tables that will support students’ work throughout the year. Using surplus materials and a spirit of experimentation, students transform the studio into a shared construction site, exploring how a table can be both a functional object and a small architecture.

Through making, testing, and learning by doing, each group develops its own approach to structure, material, and assembly. Beyond their initial construction, the tables will continue to evolve throughout the year, adapting to the changing needs of the studio and the people who inhabit it.

A process of collective making, resourcefulness, and care, where architecture begins with building together.

A huge thank you to the amazing @ethzraplab team for your incredible support!

📍 HIL G60 — come by and take a look!
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Re - Purpose
AS26: Schlieren

Mid-Term Reviews
Master Thesis

Tue. 13. Oct.
14:00 - 18:30

ONA H M1

together with
Prof. Philip Ursprung

How do we build without starting over? Cities and territories are never blank fields. They are shaped over
time by successive layers of construction, use and transformation. Yet architecture has long associated
progress with the production of the new — replacing rather than transforming, expanding rather than
intensifying. In a world of limited resources and changing environmental and social demands, this logic can no longer be taken for granted. Architecture needs to start by recognizing the potential of what is already existing — not simply to preserve it, but to adapt, intensify, connect and transform it as the basis for what comes next.
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Review Part I — TABLE

Tomorrow, Tuesday, 06.10.2026, we begin the first review of the semester.

📍 HIL G60
🕙 10:00–17:50

Guests:
Alessandro Tellini @ethzraplab
Philippe Buchs @philippe_buchs

2nd Year BA
Studio Positions
HS 2026 / FS 2027

Join us for a day of presentations, discussions, and critical exchange.
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Last week, we kicked off the semester ON SITE / OFF SITE - From Source to Shelter to Settlement.

The Makers’ Fair introduces students to the people, tools, infrastructure, and protocols that support making and research at ETH.

Through a series of hands-on stations, students explored prototyping, construction tools, connections, model photography, and safe workshop practices. Parallel stations introduced the studio bookshelf, library resources, material collections, and methods for finding and evaluating architectural precedents.

The aim is not to master new skills in a single day, but to understand how design develops through informed choices of media and methods. The workshop table and the library shelf are presented as complementary sites of inquiry: one tests ideas materially, while the other situates them historically and critically.

A special thank you to Petra Gehrmann, Christian Egli, Alessandro Tellini, Udo Thönnissen, and Hannah Friedmann for generously sharing their knowledge, experience, and expertise, and for helping us bring this project to life.

We would also like to express our gratitude to @zuercherziegeleien for generously providing us with materials that will enable us to experiment, explore, and uncover their hidden potential.

We look forward to an exciting semester of making, researching, and discovering together.