News
27.10.2010
The special issue of the ATDF Journal "Design-Revolution in Architecture and its Impact on Development", edited by Prof. Block, was published online. The issue features many interesting contributions, including articles about the Mapungubwe National Park Interpretive Center in South Africa and NESTown in Ethiopia.More Info
20.10.2010
Prof. Block has been invited by Dr.-Ing. Karl-Eugen Kurrer to give a lecture about his PhD research in the Lecture series "Praktiken und Potentiale von Bautechnikgeschichte". Prof. Block's first German lecture, entitled "Neue Studien zum Dreidimensionalen Gleichgewicht von Gewölben", will be held at the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin on Thursday November 18 at 18:00.More Info
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
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
01.06.2010
Diederik Veenendaal has been invited to present his work on fabric formwork for concrete structures at PRECAST2010, a symposium on new trends for building in prefab concrete, organized on Tuesday June 15, 2010 at the Technische Universiteit Delft. His talk is entitled "Fabric Formwork - state of the art".More Info
21.05.2010
Prof. Block will present together with Escobedo Construction their collaboration on realizing exciting stone vaulted structures. The event will be held at the beautiful Austin Museum of Art - Laguna Gloria on Tuesday June 22, 2010. More Info
ETH Zurich
Institute of Technology in Architecture
Block Research Group
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 1, HIB E 45
8093 Zurich, Switzerland
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