Speakers
Lacaton & Vassal
Known for their large housing schemes which they approach with principles of generosity and economy in order to serve the various modes of appropriation that are desired by tenants, Lacaton & Vassal's efforts often result in a focus on reduced-cost constructions in order to rejuvenate the dialogue with contracting authorities. Recent prizes include the RIBA International Fellowship 2009, the Equerre d'Argent award 2011, and the Swedish Rolf Schock Prize 2014.
Dietmar Eberle
Co-founder of Baumschlager Eberle Architects which has offices in Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, France, Vietnam and China, Professor Eberle has held teaching posts at the Technical Universities in Hannover, Vienna and Darmstadt; the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria; Syracuse University in New York; Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; and the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Since 1999 he has been a professor for architecture and design at ETH Zürich and was the Dean from 2003 to 2005. Currently, he leads ETH CASE - Centre for Research on Architecture, Society & the Built Environment.
Yung Ho Chang
The former Head of the MIT Department of Architecture, and founder of the Graduate Center of Architecture at Peking University, Professor Chang established China's first private architecture firm, Atelier FCJZ in 1993, which is translated as "unusual architecture" FCJZ (Feichang Jianzhu). Having exhibited extensively as both an artist and architect, the office has undertaken building commissions, exhibitions and produced numerous publications. Awards have included the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts, and the Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He currently serves on the Pritzker Prize Committee.
Frank Bijdendijk
After studying architecture and urban design at Delft University, Mr. Bijdendijk managed a series of large multifunctional buildings, later becoming the director of a company that developed an extension to the city of Utrecht that included 6000 dwellings, and eventually, took the role of CEO for a large housing association in Amsterdam. He is currently serving as president of the National Renovation Platform, a network of more than 90 private companies focused on sustainable use of the existing built environment.
Giorgio Macchi
Trained as an architect at ETH Zurich, Mr. Macchi became a project director in the Office for Public Buildings at the Canton of Bern from 1974-1999 where he led projects concerning all domains of public services with a priority on healthcare. Mr. Macchi has also lectured at the University of Applied Sciences in Bern and worked as an assistant to Prof. Alexander Henz at ETH Zurich. From 1999-2011, Mr. Macchi was the director and chief architect for the Office for Real Estate and Public Buildings at the Canton of Bern, where he oversaw a portfolio of approximately 2,000 buildings.
Ute Schneider
After studying architecture and urban planning at the University of Stuttgart, in 1998 Ms. Schneider founded the multidisciplinary office zipherspaceworks in Stuttgart, in cooperation with her three partners Ippolito, Fleitz and Weismann. Since 2006, she leads the Swiss branch office of KCAP Architects & Planners Zurich and in 2008 was appointed director. Key projects are the campus extension Science City for ETH in Zurich, in addition to various architectural and urban projects in Germany including Campus Augsburg and Think K-Zukunft Killesberg.
Roland Stulz
Head of the international consulting firm INTEP AG, Mr. Stulz was the executive director of Novatlantis – Sustainability at the ETH Domain from 2001-2011, where he founded the ISCN International Sustainable Campus Network and developed the vision of the 2000-Watt-Society that has now become a national program of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. A managing partner of Amstein + Walthert Ltd. from 1999-2009, he has led the Energy Commission of the Swiss Association of Engineers and Architects (SIA) and a board member of The Sustainability Forum Zurich and the Competence Center Energy and Mobility (CCEM).
Anna Schindler
Ms. Schindler studied geography at the University of Bern specializing in urban development issues. Several projects at ETH Studio Basel and in Mendrisio complement her experience as a lecturer at Zürich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW; a journalist covering topics of culture and architecture; in addition to working as the editor of the journal werk, bauen und wohnen. Since November 2011 she has been the Director of the Office for Urban Development for the City of Zürich which contains the following office subdivisions: Cross-cultural Issues; City and Neighborhood Development; Economic Development; and Foreign Affairs.
Amira Osman
In addition to leading a nationally co-funded research project titled, Harnessing innovation in the service of sustainable human settlements, Dr. Osman also coordinates the University of Johannesburg’s research and academic unit - Architecture and Agency. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Osman is currently a member of several national and international boards, most recently serving as general reporter and head of the scientific committee for the UIA 2014 Durban international Congress.
Bernardo Gómez-Pimienta
Prof. Dr. Gómez-Pimienta is director of the Architecture School at the Anahuac University and his work is widely recognized, having received more than eighty national and international awards. A founding partner/director of TEN Arquitectos, in 2003 he left to found bgp arquitectura as a multidisciplinary studio that has developed different types and scales of projects ranging from product design, furniture, a wide variety of building and urban development typologies worldwide.
Arno Schlüter
To implement his research that bridges the fields of information technology and sustainable building technologies, Prof. Dr. Schlüter co-founded the ETH spinoff Keoto AG, which plans and designs solutions for new construction and retrofit zero-emission projects ranging from the building scale to urban districts. Currently, he is an an ETH professor of architecture and building systems, as well as a module leader at the Future Cities Lab, Singapore.
Urban Think Tank
Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner co-founded the architecture firm Urban-Think Tank (U-TT) which operates out of Caracas, Sao Paulo, New York and Zürich. Professors of architecture and urban design at ETH Zurich, they also hold positions at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York. Recent awards include the Golden Lion at the 13th Architectural Biennale of Venice for Torre David / Gran Horizonte.
Kerstin Höger
A professor of architecture and urban design at NTNU and practitioner, recent projects include Science City Copenhagen and the Singapore University of Technology and Design. Co-editor with Kees Christiaanse for “Campus and the City,” upcoming publications include Urban Waterfronts; Creative Clusters in the Cultural Landscape; and Branding and the City. Her most current work - Lima Megacity - addresses the dynamics between formal and informal urbanism and high-density developments.
Hiromi Hosoya
Hiromi Hosoya is a founding partner of Hosoya Schaefer Architects, a Zürich-based office for architecture and urban design founded in 2003. The office has won numerous awards and commissions. Recent important projects include the Swiss National Innovation Park in Dübendorf, the Technology cluster of V-Zug in Zug or a renovation of the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz. Ms. Hosoya graduated from Harvard GSD and worked for Toyo Ito & Associates. She has taught interdisciplinary design studios at Cornell University, Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
Martin Henn
Having studied architecture at the University of Stuttgart and the ETH Zurich, Mr. Henn received his Master’s Degree in Architecture from the ETH, Zurich in 2006, and his Post-Professional Master of Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, New York in 2008. Prior to becoming partner and head of design at HENN, an international practice with branches in Munich, Berlin, Beijing and Shanghai, he was working for Zaha Hadid Architects in London and Asymptote Architecture in New York.
Renee Chow
A professor of architecture and urban design at UC Berkeley and co-founder of Studio URBIS, Prof. Chow's work has received an AIA Design Competition Award for New Concepts in Housing, as well as an honor award for their competition entry in a New Canal Town in South China sponsored by the Shanghai Qingpu District Government. Prof. Chow is the author of Suburban Space: The Fabric of Dwelling and the upcoming title Changing Chinese Cities: The Potentials of Field Urbanism.
Special Guest of Honor
N. John Habraken
Trained as an architect at Delft TU and the author of numerous books including Supports, an Alternative to Mass Housing (1962/72/99), The Structure of the Ordinary (1998) and Palladio’s Children (2005), Professor Emeritus N. John Habraken was the Director of SAR (Foundation for Architects Research) in the Netherlands from 1965 to 1975. Appointed professor at Eindhoven Technical University in 1967, he set up its new Department of Architecture and served as its first chairperson. Later he was appointed Head of the Department of Architecture at MIT, Cambridge, MA. from 1975-1981 and taught at MIT until his retirement in 1989. The recipient of the 1988 Creative Achievement Award of the Association of Collegiate Schools in the US; the David Roëll prize 1979 of the Dutch Prince Bernhard Fund; The King Fahd award for design and research in Islamic Architecture, 1985-86; and the Oevre Award for 1996 of the National Foundation for Art, design, and Architecture (BKVB oevre prijs) in the Netherlands. Honorary member of the Architectural Institute of Japan. Knight of the Royal Order of the Dutch Lion 2003. Recipient of the 2003 “Kubus for advancing the standing of Architecture,” by the BNA Dutch Association of Architects. In 2005, Mr. Habraken received an honorary doctorate from the Technical University Eindhoven.