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
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?
M Leuven presents a major retrospective of the work of the artist Thomas Demand, featuring two works made by the artist in collaboration with Caruso St John: The unrealised Nagelhaus and the soon to be built pavilion at the headquarters of fabric manufacturers Kvadrat in Ebeltoft, Denmark.
Adam Caruso contributes an article to the October Issue of Domus, outlining how on the failure of architecture to address the imbalances of contemporary life has motivated him to look again, in practice and with students at the ETH, at the ideological and programmatic promises of modernism.
Following a period of isolation at the start of the Lockdown, Adam Caruso met host Matthew Blunderfield online to discuss teaching at ETH Zurich, the work of Pierre Huyghe, and the series of monographs on lesser-known Modernist architects he co-edits with with his partner, Helen Thomas.
Peter St John talks galleries, ice hockey and awards with Hugh Pearman, editor of the RIBA Journal
Adam Caruso contributes an essay to the Autumn 2020 issue of Superposition, discussing the modernities of Hannes Meyer and Hans Wittwer’s ADGB Trade Union School, and Jony Ive at Norman Foster's Apple Headquarters seen through the lens of Andreas Gursky.
Lecture
Treffpunkt Gestaltung Im Handwerk
Die Barocken Blätter der Kathedrale
Schweizer Baumuster-Centrale, Zurich, Switzerland
23 January 2020, 6pm
Florian Zierer speaks at the Schweizer Baumuster-Centrale on the subject of the construction of the new chancel at St Gallen Cathedral.
Adam Caruso will participate in the 2020 Bauwelt Kongress, with a lecture entitled 'What is it Worth?', on reading the city and speculating about what its future might hold. The lecture will be followed by a conversation with Kaye Geipel and Lina Ghotmeh.
Adam Caruso will give an online lecture entitled, 'What Future for the City' as part of the 11th DAAD festival in Bratislava, Slovakia. The lecture will be at 20.00 (CET) and will be followed by a conversation with Architect Henrieta Moravčikova. The festival runs from 26 October to 1 November.
with Lukas Hug & Emi Lorincz
Teaching
ETH Zurich Seminar Week: What is Next?
Measuring Space
Studio Adam Caruso, ETH Zurich
22 October 2020
with Matthias Vollmer, Johannes Rebsamen, Markus Tretheway & Jürg Pulver