News
05.10.2011
Prof. Block has been invited on October 31, 2011 by Prof. Benjamin Ibarra-Sevilla for his first departmental lecture at the College of Design, University of Minnesota, USA. Invited fort he lecture series “Global Practices in Architectureâ€, Prof. Block will talk about “New Masonry Vaults: Learning from the old master builders to design a better futureâ€.
29.09.2011
Prof. Block has been invited to give a keynote lecture at the Design Modelling Symposium Berlin 2011 – Complexity and Responsibility on October 10-12, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. Prof. Block's lecture, entitled "Designing with Indeterminacy", will present the group's research, focusing on the innovative shell form finding approaches being developed. Matthias Rippmann will present his paper “New Design and Fabrication Methods for Freeform Stone Vaults†as a Case Study lecture.
23.09.2011
At the IABSE-IASS 2011 Conference, the ten most outstanding contributions presented by Young Engineers (under 35) were shortlisted for the IABSE Outstanding Contribution Award. The presentation and paper by Matthias Rippmann, "Digital Stereotomy: Voussoir geometry for freeform masonry-like vaults informed by structural and fabrication constraints", was among these contributions. We would like to congratulate Matthias, all the other contributors, as well as the two winning presenters.
20.09.2011
For their paper “Novel Form Finding Method for Fabric Formwork for Concrete Shellsâ€, presented at the IASS 2010 Symposium in Shanghai, China, Dr. Tom Van Mele and Prof. Block were awarded with the prestigious IASS Tsuboi Award for the most outstanding paper presented and published in the Proceedings of the IASS Symposium. The paper will be published in the December issue of the Journal of the IASS.
18.09.2011
Our project Freeform Catalan Thin-tile Vault was the technical feature in the Autumn Issue of the Brick Bulletin, a publication of Architecture Today.Read here
08.09.2011
Structural Concrete, the peer-reviewed journal of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib), has published our paper entitled "History and overview of fabric formwork: using fabrics for concrete casting". The paper, written by Diederik Veenendaal, Prof. Mark West and Prof. Block, presents a comprehensive historical overview of fabric formwork, listing key innovators, tracing technological developments, and offering examples of structures built with these methods throughout the past decades.Link to paper
05.09.2011
The BLOCK Research Group has a new research facility at ETH Zurich. Located in the Civil engineering testing hall, a beautiful experimental research laboratory has been designed by ROK. The BLOCK Lab will house a state-of-the-art testing set-up for modeling three-dimensional collapse of complex masonry structures using 3D-printed structural models. The upper floor will host the experimental setup of the digital stereotomy project.More info
01.09.2011
The BLOCK Research Group will be strongly represented at the upcoming joint symposium of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering and the International Association of Shell and Spatial Structures on September 20-23, 2011 in London, UK. At IABSE-IASS 2011 "Taller, Longer, Lighter", Lorenz Lachauer, Matthias Rippmann, Lara Davis and Diederik Veenendaal will present their latest research results. More info, see publications.
31.08.2011
The BLOCK Research Group will present the paper “Geometry-based Understanding of Structures†at the Structural Morphology Group International Seminar 2011 on September 17-18, 2011 in London, UK. We are also organizing a half-day shell design workshop “Real-time form finding of compression-only shellsâ€. The eQUILIBRIUM learning platform and a new release of RhinoVAULT will be used.
16.08.2011
Prof. Block has been invited on August 24, 2011 by Dr. Peter Richner, head of the Civil and Mechanical Engineering department and head of the Research Focal Area Sustainable Built Environment at EMPA - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology to present the BLOCK Research Group's innovative and original research. Prof. Block's lecture is entitled "New Masonry Vaults: Learning from the old master builders to design a better future".
02.08.2011
Our student project involving the construction of a wall with hand-pressed paper bricks has been featured in the 22.07.2011 issue of Baublatt as well as their website.
25.07.2011
Prof. Block has been invited to sit on the Scientific Steering Committee for the second International Conference on Flexible Formwork (icff 2012).Abstracts for this conference are now being invited for technical papers and posters whose focus is on the research, development or practical applications of flexible formwork systems. Early registration for the conference, which is taking place in Bath on June 27th to 29th 2012, is now also open.
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Institute of Technology in Architecture
Block Research Group
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 1, HIB E 45
8093 Zurich, Switzerland
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block.arch.ethz.ch
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