brg_profile_pics_16x9_4_1542899980.jpg

Dr. Matthias Rippmann +

Matthias passed away on Saturday, August 24, 2019. He will be sorely missed. 

 

Short bio:

Dr Matthias Rippmann is a Senior Scientist at the Block Research Group (BRG) of the Institute of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich, where he coordinates collaborative research projects, supervises the development of demonstrators and establishes and deepens multidisciplinary partnerships with industry and external research groups. He was the project manager of numerous key BRG projects and demonstrators and has more than 10 years of research and teaching experience in the field of digital methods in architecture.

Matthias studied architecture at the University of Stuttgart and the University of Melbourne. He worked for renowned architectural offices, the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) at the University of Stuttgart and Werner Sobek Engineering in Stuttgart. In 2010 Matthias co-founded the architecture and consultancy firm ROK - Rippmann Oesterle Knauss in Zurich, which he actively co-led for five years.

His doctoral thesis was awarded the ETH medal for outstanding doctoral dissertations. He developed the award-winning software RhinoVAULT, which has already been downloaded by nearly 30,000 users from academia and practice across different disciplines. Matthias joined the NCCR Digital Fabrication in September 2015 as a post-doctoral researcher, where he led the collaborative research stream “Discrete Structural Assemblies” involving seven researchers from three different disciplines. In 2015, Matthias was elected as representative of all NCCR researchers and served as a member of the NCCR steering committee until his promotion to Senior Assistant and member of the BRG’s Executive Board.

 

Long bio:

Dr Matthias Rippmann is a Senior Scientist at the Block Research Group (BRG) of the Institute of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich, where he coordinates collaborative research projects, supervises the development of demonstrators and establishes and deepens multidisciplinary partnerships with industry and external research groups. He was the project manager of numerous key BRG projects and demonstrators, including KnitCandela, a recently completed, highly sustainable concrete structure demonstrating a novel kitted formwork technique, featured among the ETH’s highlights of 2018. Currently, he coordinates the research and planning for resource-efficient, funicular floors implemented in the HiLo Unit for NEST (Empa), shown as part of the ETH RETHINK Design exhibition at the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos.

Matthias studied architecture at the University of Stuttgart and the University of Melbourne and received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in 2007 with the highest grade possible and a special mention for his diploma thesis. Before starting his doctoral research at the BRG, he worked for renowned architectural offices, the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) at the University of Stuttgart and Werner Sobek Engineering in Stuttgart. Working in practice and academia early in his career, developing various digital optimisation tools used in the planning phase of large-scale, commercial projects as well as using this experience to inform research and teaching projects, was crucial for his in-depth understanding of industry-oriented research. Capitalising on this expertise, Matthias co-founded the architecture and consultancy firm ROK - Rippmann Oesterle Knauss in Zurich, which he actively co-led for five years. At the same time, he started conducting research at the BRG, focusing on form-finding and fabrication approaches for discrete funicular structures. His doctoral thesis “Funicular Shell Design: Geometric Approaches to Form Finding and Fabrication of Discrete Funicular Structures” was awarded the ETH medal for outstanding doctoral dissertations. His PhD research included the development of the form-finding software RhinoVAULT, which was awarded first prize at the ALGODeQ software competition in 2014 and has already been downloaded by nearly 30,000 users from academia and practice across different disciplines. Several large-scale construction projects were designed and realized with the help of this freely available plug-in. Matthias joined the NCCR Digital Fabrication in September 2015 as a post-doctoral researcher, where he developed computer-based methods for the design and manufacture of resource-efficient floor systems and led the collaborative research stream “Discrete Structural Assemblies” involving seven researchers from three different disciplines. In 2015, Matthias was elected as representative of all NCCR researchers and served as a member of the NCCR steering committee until his promotion to Senior Assistant.

Matthias contributed to numerous peer-reviewed publications, was awarded the ACADIA Best Student Paper in 2013 and co-authored the book “Beyond Bending: Reimagining compressions shells”. He is regularly invited as keynote speaker and panellist at renowned scientific conferences and symposia as well as non-scientific public events such as TEDx Basel and Treffpunkt Science City.

Matthias has more than 10 years of teaching experience in the field of digital methods in architecture. At the University of Stuttgart, he co-supervised several diploma theses, conducted CAD/CAM programming courses and taught two design studios, focusing on digital design and fabrication methods, resulting, together with industry partners, in the construction of two large-scale exhibition stands for the Blickfang Design Fair in Stuttgart. Within the BRG, Matthias develops and teaches courses on digital methods in structural design within the MSc ETH Arch (Structural Design VI) and the MAS ETH in Architecture and Digital Fabrication program. Moreover, he led dozens of computational design workshops at universities as well as in architectural and engineering offices.

ETH ZurichDARCHITA

 

ETH Zurich
Institute of Technology in Architecture
Block Research Group
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 1, HIB E 45
8093 Zurich, Switzerland
haake@arch.ethz.ch
block.arch.ethz.ch

+41 44 633 38 35  phone
+41 44 633 10 53  fax

Copyright © 2009-2024 Block Research Group, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.