News
Talk Prof. Block at BHSF Architekte, Zurich
01.12.2011
Prof. Block is giving an office talk on December 14 at BHSF Architekten, Zurich in their lecture series "True Lies". His talk "Masonry Does Not Lie – Innovation in Structural Freeform" will present how geometry-based structural form finding, being developed by the BLOCK Research Group at ETH Zurich, starts blurring the boundaries between what is understood as funicular, efficient and freeform spatial structures, and has implications for structural design far beyond innovation in masonry.
Prof. Block guest critic at Studio Zaha Hadid, Vienna
18.11.2011
Prof. Block has been invited by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher as guest critic for the public mid reviews on December 7, 2011 of Studio Zaha Hadid at the Institute of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria.More Info
Lecture Prof. Block at TU Braunschweig, Germany
07.11.2011
Prof. Harald Kloft has invited Prof. Block on November 30, 2011 at the TU Braunschweig, Germany for a lecture in the series Seminar für Konstruktiven Ingenieurbau, with this semester's theme “Tragwerke am Limitâ€. Prof. Block will present “New masonry shells inspired by the past â€.
Lecture Prof. Block at DFG Priority Programme 1542
04.11.2011
Prof. Block has been invited on November 14, 2011 to give an input lecture at the first seminar of DFG Priority Programme 1542 “Leicht Bauen mit Betonâ€. His talk, “Back to the Future: New Funicular Form Finding†will present the BLOCK Research Group’s projects and research inspired by the skills and knowledge of the master builders of the past.
BLOCK Lab on ETH Life
21.10.2011
The president of ETH Zurich, Prof. Ralph Eichler, presented one of the focal areas of the ETH Foundation, "Sustainable Building", to important stakeholders and donors. The event was organized in the civil engineering hall. We thus had a chance ot present our infrastructure. The image accompanying the article about the event, shows an inside shot of our BLOCK Lab. See article here.
3D-Printed Artificial Stone Vault
16.10.2011
At the Design Modelling Symposium Berlin 2011, a 3D-printed vault prototype, designed by Prof. Norbert Palz and Ricardo Gomes, has been exhibited. The vaulted structure in artificial sandstone has been fabricated using Enrico Dini's d-shape technology. The prototype has been designed using RhinoVAULT.Original post on eat-a-bug.
Workshop and seminar Prof. Block at SOM Chicago, USA
05.10.2011
Prof. Block has been invited by Bill Baker, partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in Chicago, USA, for a working meeting on graphic statics on October 24, 2011. Prof. Block will present his latest developments in advanced graphical design and analysis methods in a seminar at SOM’s structures research group.
Lecture Prof. Block at Princeton University, NJ, USA
05.10.2011
Prof. Block has been invited by Prof. Sigrid Adriaenssens on October 26, 2011 at the Structural Form Finding Lab at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, NJ, USA. Prof. Block will give a seminar, entitled “Geometry-based Form Findingâ€, emphasizing the power of using graphical approaches in engineering design.
Seminar Prof. Block at UT Austin, TX, USA
05.10.2011
Prof. Chandrajit Bajaj has kindly invited Prof. Block for a seminar on October 28, 2011 at his chair of Computational Applied Mathematics at Institute of Computational Engineering & Sciences of the University of Texas at Austin, USA. His talk on the “geometry in compression shells†will highlight the geometrical relations and constraints in funicular structures.
Departmental lecture Prof. Block at University of Minnesota, USA
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€.
Keynote lecture Prof. Block at DMSB 2011
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.
Matthias Rippmann shortlisted for IABSE-YEP Award
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.
