Teaching
ETH Zurich Seminar Week: What is Next?
New Material Developments
Studio Adam Caruso, ETH Zurich
20 October 2020
with Marlise Blaser, Katharina Lehmann, Summer Islam & Paloma Gormley
To achieve the net-zero greenhouse gas emissions objective, and keep the global temperature increase to 1.5°C, the building sector needs to shift its goals towards carbon-negative construction materials. In the first talk of the seminar week, the studio invited Marlise Blaser (Elementwerk Istighofen), Katharina Lehmann (Blumer Lehman Holzbau), Summer Islam & Paloma Gormley (Material Culture) to discuss the future of construction materials.
Marlise Blaser is owner and director of Elementwerk Istighofen since 2002. The company specialises in fabricating facade elements and other bespoke precast concrete elements, using their own mix of concrete. Marlise Blaser studied business management and civil engineering in Bern and worked for Zeltner Ingenieure AG and Walo Bertschinger AG before becoming director of Elementwerk Istighofen.
Katharina Lehmann studied economy at HSG and is the CEO of the Lehmann Gruppe since 1996, where she runs Blumer Lehmann AG. Blumer Lehmann has extensive experience in the design, production planning, fabrication and assembly of timber constructions and are leaders in developing know-how about working with wood. They are investigating technical innovations to achieve sustainable and durable solutions.
Summer Islam & Paloma Gormley are both young architects based in London, running their own practices Studio Abroad and Practice Architecture. They are the founders of Material Culture, a non-profit research organisation working at the intersection of low embodied carbon and high efficiency off-site construction, where they are working with ARUP to develop prototypical designs for low and high density housing, commercial and cultural uses
Related news
Exhibition and event
Tendenzen at 50
Panel Discussion at ETH Zurich
gta exhibitions, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
25.03.2026
Fifty years after the landmark 1975 Tendenzen exhibition at ETH Zurich - which first brought the Ticino architectural movement to international attention - Tendenzen at 50 revisits the original event through archival research, unpublished materials, and new photography to examine how it shaped architectural discourse and why it remains relevant today.
As part of the exhibition's public events programme, a panel discussion will take place on Wednesday 25 March at ETH Zurich. Adam Caruso will join Linda Schädler, Adam Szymczyk, and Roland Züger for a conversation moderated by Irina Davidovici and Frida Grahn.
Students from Studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zurich present their projects to a panel of guest critics including Marianna Charitonidou, Fredi Fischli and Niels Olson.
Students in studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zurich will spend their Autumn semester exploring the sensibility of the interim; looking to the long history in the built environment of improvising and adapting.
The Architecture Foundation presents a week of seminars from 19-22 October 2020 curated by Studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zürich exploring the architecture of crisis. Invited speakers include Carolyn Steel, Summer Islam, Paloma Gormley and others in the disciplines of architecture, politics and economics. Across 9 talks over 4 days, panelists will be asked to reflect upon the unit's posed question: What is Next?
Hospitalfield is awarded the 34th International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens, 2025-2026, a prize awarded to a place with the capacity to transmit natural, historical and cultural values, devised and organised by the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche. The prize is named in honour of Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978), the architect and creator of gardens. There will be a public ceremony in Treviso to celebrate the prize.
Book launch & talk, London
Collected Works: Volume 3, 2010-2020
Adam Caruso & Valerie Verhack
WIELS, Brussels
18:30 Thursday 23 April 2026
Adam Caruso will be in conversation with curator Valerie Verhack, at WIELS in Brussels, to celebrate the release of the book Collected Works: Volume 3 2010–2020, published by MACK Books.
Phase 2 of our Masterplan for Hospitafields Arts, the Studios, have been shortlisted for the RIAS Awards in Scotland. This phase focuses on the more private areas of the site, creating studios and workshops with excellent access. Centred on the Rear Yard, this phase includes the renovation of the 1901 studios, conservation of the 1845 Patrick Allan-Fraser Studio, refurbishment of the Drawing School, and construction of a new studio building.
Royal Belge has been shortlisted for the RIBA International Awards. Selecting projects from five continents, the award recognizes a broad range of designs addressing global challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, social equity, and rapid urbanization.
Our Royal Belge project is praised for its adaptive reuse strategies, extending the life of a modernist icon. The jury will visit the projects in the coming month.
Book launch & talk, Berlin
Collected Works: Volume 3, 2010-2020
Thomas Demand & Adam Caruso
Buchhandlung Walther König, Berlin
19:00 CET 10th April 2026
Adam Caruso will be in conversation with artist Thomas Demand at the Buchhandlung Walther König an der Museumsinsel in Berlin, to celebrate the release of Collected Works: Volume 3 2010–2020. Free to attend.
Book launch & talk, London
Collected Works: Volume 3, 2010-2020
Adam Caruso, Peter St John & Owen Hatherley
ICA, London (sold out)
18:30 26th March 2026
Adam Caruso and Peter St John will be in conversation with Owen Hatherley at the ICA in London, to celebrate the release of the book Collected Works: Volume 3 2010–2020, published by MACK Books. Tickets for the event are now sold out.
Book launch & talk, Zurich
Collected Works: Volume 3, 2010-2020
Adam Caruso & Salim Umar
Hochparterre Bücher, Zurich
19:00 CET 20th March 2026
Adam Caruso will be in conversation with Salim Umar to celebrate the release of Collected Works: Volume 3 2010–2020. Free to attend.
Royale Belge has won the Contemporary Heritage Award at the third edition of the Brussels Architecture Prizes. The prizes celebrate contributions to the spatial quality of Brussels.