Block Research Group

News

Interview Prof. Block in CASAMICA

24.11.2012

As a result of the BLOCK Research Group's participation at the Architecture Biennale 2012 in Venice, Italy, Prof. Block got interviewed for the November 24-issue of the design magazine CASAMICA of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.Read the interview online on AT CASA

Beautiful masonry experiments on ETH campus

12.11.2012

The student-built masonry shells, which are the stunning results of the Seminar week: Brickworks, organized together with the Chair of Prof. Andrea Deplazes, can still be admired until November 15, 2012, when they will be load-tested to failure!

Fabrication collaboration with Escobedo Construction

02.11.2012

Matthias Rippmann will spend 3 weeks at Escobedo Construction in Buda, TX, USA to work with 5-Axis, LLC's state-of-the-art CNC stone cutting machine. The goal of the visit is to link the actual stone fabrication setup to the digital design chain, implemented for the development of the MLK Jr. Park Vault in Austin. The exchange will allow to check the novel cutting strategies that were invented to improve the efficiency of the fabrication of the voussoirs of the complex stone vault.

eQUILIBRIUM in Innovedum exhibition

02.11.2012

Our learning platform eQUILIBRIUM will be part of an exhibition of innovative teaching ideas, organized by ETH Innovedum. The exhibition will be held at two locations: ETH Zentrum (opening event: Wednesday November 7, 16:00-18:00) and Science City (opening event: Wednesday November 21, 16:00 â€“ 18:00).More information

eQUILIBRIUM featured in ETH Life

18.10.2012

Our ETH Innovedum-funded teaching project eQUILIBRIUM is featured on the front page of this month's edition of ETH Life. A detailed follow-up article on our interactive web-based learning platform is planned to appear in next month's edition.

Lecture Prof. Alfonso Ramirez Ponce, UNAM, Mexico

12.10.2012

The BLOCK Research Group and the Chair of Prof. Andrea Deplazes have invited Mexican architecture and Professor at UNAM, Alfonso Ramirez Ponce to talk about his beautiful work in Mexican brick vaulting. His lecture "Curves of Clay - Geometry and Tradition" will be on Monday October 29, 2012, 15:00-17:00 in HIL E4 on the ETH HÃ¶nggerberg campus.

Seminar week â€œBrickworksâ€ with Chair Deplazes

10.10.2012

The BLOCK Research Group is organizing a seminar week at ETH on masonry vaulting this semester: â€œBrickworksâ€ (October 22-26, 2012) together with the Chair of Prof. Andrea Deplazes. Starting with a RhinoVAULT intensive workshop, giving by Lorenz Lachauer and Matthias Rippmann, the students will be building some cool vaults, under the guidance of the Catalan vaulting experts from Moudon, Switzerland, SÃ©bastien and Pascal Pittet, and the Mexican vaulting expert from Mexico City, Prof. Alfonso Ramirez Ponce.

Public lecture Prof. Block at UTS, Sydney

30.09.2012

Prof. Block has been invited by Melonie Bayl-Smith and Dave Pigram to present his work in a Public lecture, entitled "Novel Masonry Shells â€“ Learning from the Gothic Master Builders", on October 10, 2012 at the Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.Read more

Design-build workshop at UTS

28.09.2012

Prof. Block has been invited by Melonie Bayl-Smith of Bijl Architecture and Dave Pigram of supermanoeuvre as Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building at University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Together, they will teach an intensive design research studio on novel ribbed tile vaulting from October 2-12, 2012.

Lecture Lorenz Lachauer at AAG 2012

24.09.2012

Lorenz Lachauer will present his research paper on â€œCompression Support Structures for Slabsâ€ at the Advances in Architectural Geometry (AAG) 2012 conference, which will be held on September 27-28, 2012 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.More Info

Paper Lorenz Lachauer and Prof. Block at AAG 2012

05.07.2012

The paper "Compression Support Structures for Slabs" by Lorenz Lachauer and Prof. Block has been selected, as one of only 24 papers, for presentation at the conference Advances in Architectural Geometry (AAG 2012), which will be held on September 27-30, 2012 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.

Workshop and presentation at Herzog & de Meuron

11.06.2012

The BLOCK Research Group has been invited by Dr. Kai Strehlke, head of Design Technology at Herzog & de Meuron to the office in Basel. Lorenz Lachauer,Matthias Rippmann and Prof. Block will organize a short RhinoVAULT workshop and present the group's research.