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Prof. Dr. Philippe Block

Philippe Block is a structural designer and full professor at and head of the Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA) at ETH Zurich, where he co-leads the Block Research Group (BRG) with Dr. Tom Van Mele, and director of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) on Digital Fabrication. 

 

Short bio:

Philippe Block is a full professor of Architecture and Structures and head of the Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA) at ETH Zurich, where he co-leads the Block Research Group (BRG) with Dr. Tom Van Mele. He studied architecture and structural engineering at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, where he earned his PhD in 2009.

The BRG develops sustainable and circular construction solutions through the advancement of computational structural design and innovation in digital fabrication and construction. Specific expertise includes computational form finding, discrete masonry, graphic statics, architectural and structural geometry, digital fabrication and construction, and open-source computation.

Philippe and Tom translate their research into practice, with the consultancy Foreign Engineering and the ETH spin-off VAULTED. Most significant is the development of the Rippmann Floor System (RFS), a low-carbon-footprint, fully circular prefabricated concrete floor solution.

Long bio:

Philippe Block is Full Professor of Architecture and Structures at the Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA) at ETH Zurich, where he has been leading the Block Research Group (BRG) with Dr. Tom Van Mele since 2009. Philippe has also been Head of ITA since 2021 and Director of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) on Digital Fabrication since 2017. He studied architecture and structural engineering at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned his PhD in 2009.

Research at the BRG leads to innovation in (computational) design, engineering, fabrication and construction of sustainable, circular and economical structures, addressing climate change by significantly reducing embodied emissions, utilising fewer single-use resources and minimising construction waste. Following the motto “strength through geometry” and the principles of traditional unreinforced masonry construction, the BRG applies this knowledge to projects such as the unreinforced stone Armadillo Vault; the thin, flexibly formed concrete shells of NEST HiLo and KnitCandela; the 3D-concrete-printed masonry bridge Striatus; and, the Rippmann Floor System (RFS), a lightweight, ultra-low-carbon-footprint, fully circular prefabricated concrete floor solution.

Since 2021, Philippe and Tom translate their research into practice with the structural design and computation consultancy Foreign Engineering GmbH, which they run with Dr. Alessandro Dell’Endice. In 2023, Philippe and Tom joined forces with Francesco Ranaudo and co-founded VAULTED AG, the ETH spin-off specialising in the design, engineering, manufacturing, and distribution of the Rippmann Floor System (RFS). Since 2020, Philippe has also been a board member and since 2022 the chairman of the Health, Safety and Sustainability Committee of Holcim Ltd, one of the largest building material solutions companies in the world. This position has given him the opportunity to utilize his expertise in sustainable construction, fabrication innovation, and structural design to achieve global impact in decarbonising the construction industry.

From 2009 to 2021, Philippe was a founding partner of ODB Engineering, with Profs. John Ochsendorf and Matthew DeJong, offering expertise on the structural assessment of historic monuments in unreinforced masonry and the design and engineering of novel shell structures.

Selection online presentations by Prof. Block:

- short: KIT sustain.build.repeat. symposium in April 2022, or Schweizer Baumuster-Centrale Zürich (from 14:52) in Sept 2019;
- medium: SOM Foundation in Sept 2019, or MEAL* Live Academy in July 2020; and
- long: Rice University in November 2021.

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

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