News
14.10.2010
The BLOCK Research Group will be strongly represented at the upcoming symposium of the International Association of Shell and Spatial Structures on November 8-12 in Shanghai, China. At IASS 2010 "Spatial Structures - Temporary and Permanent", Prof. Block, Lorenz Lachauer, Matthias Rippmann and Dr. Tom Van Mele will present their research on novel form finding approaches.
13.10.2010
Prof. Block has been invited by Prof. Mark Pauly to present the BLOCK Research Group's research work on constraint-based optimization at the Laboratoire d'Informatique Graphique et Géométrique of the EPFL in Lausanne. Title talk is "Form Finding to Fabrication: An integrative digital design process for free-form masonry vaults". The teams hope that this can be the start of fruitful collaborations.More Info
08.10.2010
Prof. Block has been invited by Profs. Matthew DeJong and Michael Ramage to present his research at the Engineering Department Structures Research Seminar at the University of Cambridge, UK. His lecture, entitled "Exploiting Structural Indeterminacy: Free-form unreinforced stone shells", will be held at the Department of Engineering in Lecture 4, Ground floor on Thursday October 28, at 17:00. More Info
05.10.2010
The Fall 2010 architecture studio from Prof. Tom Emerson, with the theme of "Bricolage" designed and constructed a wooden pavilion, entirely from recycled crates and palettes. Marcel Aubert and Prof. Block assisted with the structural design of the project named "96 Hands".
04.10.2010
Prof. Block is chairing the session "Structuring in Design" at the Symposium "The New Structuralism: Design, Engineering and Architectural Technologies", organized by Robert and Rivka Oxman and Gramazio & Kohler and held on October 7, 2010 at the Architekturforum Zürich.More Info
15.09.2010
Taking the lid off of the latest research and teaching done at the BLOCK Research Group! From October 1, 2010 to October 29, 2010, the Department of Architecture (D-ARCH) at ETH is having its annual exhibition. This "Jahresaustellung" is happening in the main lobby of the HIL building. Come check out our work.More Info
24.08.2010
The BLOCK Research Group offers an exciting seminar week, entitled "Scaffolding to Structure: Construction in thin-shell masonry". Masonry experts from the ETH, University of Cambridge, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) will lead seminars in vault construction, where structural principles will be tested through hands-on experience with materials and methods. Based in Cambridge, UK, our excursions will include locations closed to the public: On the roof of King's College Chapel, at Ely Cathedral, Peterborough Cathedral, and the Wren Library. More InfoRegister
25.07.2010
Lara Davis has been building the unreinforced vaulted floor system, designed by Prof. Block, of the prototype of the Sustainable Urban Dwelling Unit (SUDU) at the EiABC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She has been training students and local laborers into the Catalan vaulting technique which allows to build without the need for formwork or steel reinforcements. The construction was part of the ETHiopia Urban Laboratory SummerSchool 2010 in which our chair provided teaching and hands-on workshops in "Appropriate Architecture & Construction". More infoMore Info
07.07.2010
The wooden shading pavilion fabricated and assembled during the design-build workshop "The Sequential Structure", a collaboration between ITA's Gramazio & Kohler - Architecture and Digital Fabrication and the BLOCK Research Group, can be visited on the terrace next to HIL F 56. More Info
28.06.2010
Lorenz Lachauer has implemented a simplified version of TNA in Grashopper, resulting in a highly interactive and parametric 3D form-finder for compression-only structures. The featured movie shows a first structural "masonry" model, made using 3D-printing, resulting from this powerful tool. It is unglued and stands because it has a good structural form.More Info
27.06.2010
Prof. Block attended on June 27, 2010 the very impressive founding ceremony of NESTown, New Ethiopian Sustainable Town, the birth child of Prof. Em. Franz Oswald. "Buranest", the new name chosen by the locals, is expected to be a model town for the Amhara region in Ethiopia. As member of the NEST Group, Prof. Block is responsible for the development of the construction based on local materials.More Info
20.06.2010
The project "e-QUILIBRIUM: Interactive Statics", an online, interactive learning environment for teaching structural design to architects and engineers, has received funding for its development through an ETH Innovedum grant. The project expects to revolutionize structures' teaching, using interactive graphical approaches. Dr. Tom Van Mele will be the project leader of e-QUILIBRIUM.More Info
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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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