laba manifest - ENAC | School of Architecture, Civil and ...

laba manifest 

laba epfl - manifest enac- laba - june - june 2012 2012 

1

Position within the discipline 

laba team 

Prof. Harry Gugger 

Architect + Professeur ordinaire 

Tél. +41 61 225 10 20 

harry.gugger@epfl.ch 

Goetz Menzel 

Head of Teaching 

Tél. +41 61 225 10 22 

goetz.menzel@epfl.ch 

Aurelie Blanchard 

Teaching Assistant 

Tél. +41 61 225 10 26 

aurelie.blanchard@epfl.ch 

Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer 

Head Research 

Tél. +41 61 225 10 24 

gwendolyn.kerschbaumer@epfl.ch 

Nancy Couling 

Research Assistant / PhD 

Tél. +41 61 225 10 23 

nancy.couling@epfl.ch 

Dr. Octavian Iercan 

Researcher Geoinformatics 

Tél. +41 61 225 10 24 

octavian.iercan@epfl.ch 

Juliette Fong 

Head Administration 

Tél. +41 61 225 10 21 

juliette.fong@epfl.ch 

http://laba.epfl.ch 

laba manifest - june 2012 

The sphere of the architect is shrinking: today architecture finds itself 

in the paradoxical situation of being more popular than ever before and 

getting enormous media attention, while at the same time experiencing 

total decline. On the one hand architecture has become the media of many: 

developers, investors, corporations and institutions and on the other hand, 

most construction happens without architects. At the same time architectural 

design has become more complex requiring an ever-greater number of skills 

and competences taken over by a series of specialist consultants. As a result 

architects also become marginalized in the design process. 

To address this problem, laba has developed a design methodology ensuring 

that architects continue to play a central, coordinating and integrative role in 

the design process. 

laba’s approach to teaching is thus strongly influenced by the context of 

professional practice, meaning that students are exposed to key elements 

of the profession beyond pure design. At one end of the spectrum students 

are trained in territorial and urban design and are confronted with the 

development of a project. On the other end of the spectrum the processing 

of projects is structured according to building phases used by professional 

associations and the introduction to the building process is supported through 

a series of lectures on structure, façade, building service and fit out. 

The aim is to offer a well-rounded education, allowing architects to understand 

the design and building process in it’s entirety and to be pro-active participants 

in this process. 

Given the increasing global nature of the profession, laba also fosters an 

international environment by working with a local partner institution and 

conducting the studio in English. 

Finally, laba’s name reflects its didactic and scientific orientation: it is 

a laboratory, a place of applied research, dedicated to the analysis and 

development of design and building processes. 

1

Theme Urban nature 

epfl campus - 2005/06 

Havanna - 2006/07 

London - 2007/08 

Geneva - 2008/09 

Bahrain - 2009/10 

Athens - 2010/11 

laba’s focal theme is Urban Nature. The objective is to research the nature of 

the contemporary urban environment and to equip architects for the task of 

constructing sustainable solutions for these environments. 

What has been the case for the ‘developed’ world since the beginning of the 

20th century is currently becoming a reality for the developing world - the 

majority of people will be living in an urban environment. In addition, as 

agglomerations expand, so do their supporting local and global territories. 

Urban agglomerations are thus leaving their mark on the majority of the 

earth’s surface. Due to the scale and character of this territorial expansion, 

the definition of the urban becomes more diffuse and complex. 

Urban systems are per se intricate, dynamic and determined by many diverse 

phenomena outside the architectural sphere. Architecture and urban design 

are hence inherently interdisciplinary, touching upon for example social, 

technical, aesthetic, cultural, economic, political, ecological and ethical 

issues. Our discipline cannot be understood in an isolated manner, but only 

within the wider context of these adjacent fields. 

Architects must therefore have a good understanding of the impact of these 

forces on the built environment in order to be able to respond adequately. This 

usually happens through collaboration with consultants in specialized areas. 

Architects are in this sense both assimilators and specialists; assimilating 

the knowledge embedded in parallel disciplines and specialists in the spatial 

articulation of this knowledge in architecture and urban design. 

Our studio and research aims at exploring the complex context of the 

architectural and urban design process through a number of national and 

international study objects and subsequently, at exploring appropriate 

physical expressions. 

Within the larger theme of Urban Nature, we are particularly interested in 

an urban morphology which makes cities more attractive and liveable. While 

over 50% of the population live in urban areas, these areas are further 

differentiated into specific and emerging typologies, some of which combine 

both characteristically ”rural” and “urban” components. laba investigates the 

contribution of urban design to understanding and improving these contexts. 

Through our teaching and research, we aim to position ourselves and 

participate in both the current academic and non-academic discourse on 

urban design and planning. 

Teaching and research on urban design is currently limited in the School of 

Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering ENAC and laba sees it’s 

studio and research unit as a pivotal element in expanding the academic field 

of urban design within our school. The intention is to develop a larger network 

of urban design and planning studios, classes and research units both within 

the existing EPFL structure and in collaboration with other Universities 

specifically the ETHZ and it’s Contemporary City Institute Studio Basel. 

With Studio Basel laba, forms a platform to research today’s city called 

“Cerberus”. 

laba manifest - june 2012 2

Current 

Sea of opportunities 

In the 2011/12 academic 

year, laba`s investigation 

on ocean territories led to 

the Barents Sea, north of 

Norway, in collaboration 

with the Oslo School of 

Architecture and Design. 

Student groups developed 

five Territorial Constitutions 

for the Barents Sea and 

went on to develop thirteen 

architectural projects 

exercising the articles of the 

constitutions within the topic 

“Exploring Infrastructure- 

Living and Working in the 

Barents Sea”. A 10-day 

workshop to the Barents 

region took place between 

the two project phases. 

CH16M2048 

We will be studying a 

hypothetical Switzerland 

in 2048 with 16 million 

inhabitants. It is clear that 

this increase in population 

will put enormous pressure 

on the existing urban, 

suburban and rural areas. 

We believe that simply 

continuing today’s planning 

policies and practices for 

the next 40 years is not an 

appropriate response, given 

the scale of the predicted 

changes. It seems to us, that 

a more radical reevaluation 

and proposal is needed. 

CH16M2048 will thus 

be raising fundamental 

questions about how our 

territory is planned and how 

it develops. 


Methodology overview 

laba teaching 

Over the last 6 years, laba has developed a specific studio methodology. 

Each year, an urban research laboratory location, which exemplifies a critical 

and widespread urban issue, is selected. Each culturally specific location 

contributes to the data-base for a comparative investigation of planning 

systems across the world. 

The laba methodology takes students through design scales ranging from 

the territorial to the architectural, and introduces them to parallel fields of 

expertise which greatly influence the urban morphology of the given context. 

Equipped with this knowledge, students establish what we call an “Urban 

Constitution”. This document serves as a roadmap for long term urban 

development. 

laba’s portfolio includes the development of particular skills required to work 

in this way - the application of GIS systems to urban design, architectural 

field-work and trans-disciplinary input from invited experts backed up by 

specific urban research projects. In this way, the laboratory aims to enable the 

architect to arrive at specific local solutions for global tasks and to strengthen 

his position within the urban debate. 

Based on this road map, students continue to work on a smaller scale, focusing 

on the actual spatial form that the urban constitution would take. Projects 

will range from specific urban design proposals to complex buildings. These 

projects act as a proof of concept for the Urban Constitution. 

Students share their work through frequent public presentations in order to 

become proficient in this crucial skill. 

The collaboration with a partner institution connected to the given study 

area allows both groups to be exposed to a different cultural and academic 

approach. 

An annual publication exhibits the results of the studio. 


Methodology details 

ASSIGNMENTS 

laba students group work 

Assignments 

Reviews 


5 X CASE STUDIES / DESIGN TEAMS 

5 x design teams 

The methodology is organized over two semesters. 

Semester 1 

In the first semester, students analyse a given urban region / territory. 

The work is organized around 4 assignments. Apart from the first assignment, 

all are carried out in groups with each student taking a specific place within 

a matrix that has 5 physical locations in the form of case-studies on one axis 

and 5 urban research themes on the second axis. 

Schedule: 

Week 1 

MY ... 

Each participating student is thus assigned a role in two different types of 

groups: each student is part of a team of five designers, the design team, which 

concentrates on planning and spatial conceptualization, and is concurrently 

a member of a specialist group, which addresses specific design-related 

research topics. 

25 25 STUDENTS students 5 

5 

x 

X 

specialists 

SPECIALISTS 

teams 

TEAMS 

eastern 

mediterranean 

EASTERN 

MEDITERRANEAN 

north 

sea 

NORTH 

SEA 

persian 

PERSIAN 

gulf GULF 

carribean 

sea 

CARIBBEAN 

SEA 

south china 

sea 

Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 

My...reviews 

SOUTH CHINA 

OCEAN 

CASE STUDIES 

Inputs Intro trip Lecture 

Lecture 

theme 1 

theme 2 

TERRITORIAL STRATEGIES 

TERRITORIAL CONSTITUTIONS 

CS reviews TS reviews TC reviews 

Lecture 

theme 3 

Lecture 

theme 4 

Lecture 

theme 5 

governance GOVERNANCE infrastructure INFRASTRUCTURES resources RESSOURCES climate CLIMATE economy 

ECONOMY 

Sarina Balkhausen Martin Lepoutre Giulia Altarelli Kristin Weinrich Elsa Beniada 

François Nantermod Alexandros Fotakis Jeanne Wery Mathieu Bujnowskyj Pauline Seigneur 

Diana Brasil Ingrid Gjermstad Nicoletta Caputto Achille Grosvernier Nicolas Feihl 

Marine Beaumanoir Joan Genergonzalez Carmen Fischer Noémi Giliand Lucia Tinghi 

Augustin Clément Tess Walvaren Caroline Iorio Chloé Coninckx Alessia Catellani 

5

PAINTINGS 

by Pauline INSTALLATION 

Seigneur 

by Elsa Beniada 

my Barents 

by 2020: China will become the world’s 4th 

tourist generating country 

Malaysia: 8th best receiving tourist 

destination in the world 

case study South China Sea 

ICE CATALYSATION PLATFORMS 

ARCTIC OCEAN BORDER 79° 43' 12'' N / 12° 06' 10'' E 

2018_NOVEMBER 22 

AIR SURFACE TEMPERATURE / -11°C 

SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE / -1°C 

EXTENDED ICE FRONT + 47,12 km 


LABA_W428 

SATELITE VIEW 

800 m 

territorial strategy climate 

Hydro 

A CASE STUDY 

Murmansk, towards an oil free territory 

BERLEVÅG 

Wind 

BÅTSFJORD 

VADSØ 

NIKEL 

KIRKENES 

VARDØ 

ZEE Norway 

ZEE Russia 

ZAPOLIARNY 

ZAOZYORSK 

Hydro 

PECHENGA 

Hydro 

Wind 

Wind 

URA GUBA 

Wind 

+ 

Aquaculture 

Wind 

GADZHIYEVO 

POLIARNY 

SNEZHNOGORSK 

Stream 

SEVEROMORSK 

MURMANSK 

Wind 

Tidal 

Wind 

TERIBERKA 

Fossil 

Wind 

+ 

Aquaculture 

Wind 

Aquaculture 

LABA_VD62 

Wind 

Wind 

LABA_Y165 

LABA_CH44 

LABA_X317 

National border 

Priority protected area 

Energy potential area 

River 

Seabird migrations 

Reeinder migrations 

Rails 

Road 

Electrical grid 

Pipeline 

Shipping routes 

Oil and gas energy 

Coal �red energy 

Biofuel production 

Hydro, tidal and streampower 

Windfarm 

Aquaculture 

> 1 000 MW 

< 100 MW or 3 000 hab 

> 300 000 hab 

Renewable energy production 

Fossil energy production 

Energy consumption site 

20 km 

10 miles 

INTRODUCTION RICHNESS THREATS MODEL CONCLUSION 

territorial constitution for Barents 

Assignments 

a) My urban region 

Students are asked to represent their conception of the specific urban region. 

The goal of this project is to allow each student to interpret the urban region 

in their own highly personal way. This exercise is an important basis for 

discussion, especially given that a large number of our students are foreign 

and can make an important contribution to our international perspective. 

b) Case-Studies 

The morphological structure of regions and cities similar to the specific region 

we are studying, is analysed. 

This work is done in groups with each group member researching one of 5 key 

urban themes such as infrastructure, food, energy, health and education, as 

well as other important demographic and urban parameters such as density, 

economy, etc. 

The 5 chosen themes are those considered most relevant to the particular 

urban study area. 

Each specialist researches his/her theme and it’s role within the evolution of 

the urban structure. The final group report is a compilation of the individual 

themes, including standardized statistical and physical data, as well as an 

overall analysis and set of conclusions. The conclusions identify special and 

unique features and clarify the advantages and problems of each case. 

c) Urban Strategies 

The specialists from each case-study work together as a group to conduct 

research on the given urban area. The 5 themes such as infrastructure, food, 

energy, health and education represent the focus of each specialist group. 

The groups will propose an urban strategy driven mainly by the creation of 

optimal conditions for the development of their theme. These urban strategies 

will be extreme to the point of being almost narrow-minded in focusing on one 

theme. However, it is in this extremity that useful approaches and concepts 

are developed, which can later be modified in co-existence with the network 

of the other 4 themes. 

d) Urban Constitution 

The goal of this assignment is to produce an urban constitution: a roadmap 

providing a logical set of guiding rules which allow for an appropriate longterm 

development of the given urban area. 

The students work together in their original case-study group, thus forming 

again 5 groups with specialists from each theme. Group work is understood to 

be an important component. Students learn to negotiate and be a productive 

member of a larger entity. 

Each group develops an urban constitution which addresses the significant 

issues and needs of the given zone in the short, medium and long term. 

The proposed plan is represented as a schematic strategy that integrates 

the multiple overlaying aspects of urban planning and design. The urban 

constitution comprises texts as well as maps and models. 

6

Methodology details 

laba field trip to the Barents sea 

laba design devellopment reviews 

Phases 

Reviews 


Field Trip 

Laba’s study trips are a crucial part of the studio and link the urban 

constitution established in the first semester, to it’s implementation in the 

form of architectural projects in the second semester. 

The field trip usually takes place at the end of the first semester, after students 

have acquired an in-depth knowledge of the place through data, studies and 

visual material. They confront this theoretical knowledge with a personal 

experience of the place and explore in depth a specific site of intervention 

where they propose an architectural / urban design project. 

Semester 2 

The second semester focuses on the specific physical implementation and 

testing of the urban constitution. In this semester new typologies of urban 

morphology will be explored. What can government officials, architects, urban 

designers and planners do to improve the quality of urban life? What kind 

of urban typologies work well, how can housing, working and civic spaces 

be rethought and redesigned to reflect the needs and desires of an urban 

population? This semester can be considered a ‘rehearsal’ for the specific 

EPFL SAR master thesis. Students learn to develop a project on their own, 

from the formulation of the question to it’s development into an architectural 

project. For this students work individually or in groups of two depending on 

the complexitiy of the proposed project. 

The second semester is organized around 4 assignments based on building 

phases as defined by different architectural bodies (AIA, RIBA, SIA, loi MOP). 

Students define the projects themselves, that is they choose a site as well as 

a program. 

Schedule: 

Week 1 

Inputs Lecture 

Structure 

This refers back to the objective set out at the beginning, namely to extend the 

architect’s influence on the built environment. The matrix below shows that 

the actual field of influence of the architect today is much reduced compared 

to the expanded field of influence that laba is advocating: 

SIA 

RIBA 

AIA 

MOP 

laba 

Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16 

FEASABILITY STUDY 

FS 

reviews1 

PRODUCTION PROCESS 

Strategic 

planning 

Feasibility 

studies 

Pre- 

Esqui- 

Feasibility 

study 

Lecture 

Building 

services 

Preliminary 

studies 

Outline 

design 

FS 

reviews 2 

Site analysis 

Avant-projet 

sommaire 

Schematic design 

Lecture 

Facade 

Pro- 

Scheme 

design 

Lecture 

Fit-Out 

Schematic 

design 

Avant-projet 

dé�nitif 

SCHEMATIC DESIGN 

Detail design 

Design 

development 

Pro- 

Design 

development 

SD 

reviews 

Production 

information 

Contract 

documents 

Contrat de 

travaux 

Construction 

documentation 

ARCHITECTS ACTUAL FIELD OF INFLUENCE 

ARCHITECTS EXPANDED FIELD OF INFLUENCE 

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 

Invitation to 

bid 

Tender 

action 

Bidding or 

negotiations 

Exécution et 

examen 

Implemantation 

Project 

planning 

DD 

reviews 

Contract administration 

Direction de 

l’exécution 

Site 

operations 

Pilotage 

de chantier 

Presentation documentation 

CHARETTE 

Final 

reviews 

Management 

Feedback 

Post-contract 

services 

Réception 

7

A 

13 

12 

6 

10 

8 

7 

the different project phases 

9 

B 

11 

6 

15 

14 

14 

14 

Assignments 

a) Feasibility Study 

This study outlines the current physical, infrastructural and legal conditions 

and restrictions of a site and assesses the compatibility with a proposed 

program. 

A rough massing proposal is developed within a site model. 

b) Schematic Design 

The diagrammatic descriptions of the feasibility study are transformed into 

a functional, logical, thematic and aesthetic architectural parti – an overall 

design concept. 

Within this phase, the contextual issues of site and connections are addressed 

and solutions for basic issues such as structure, materials, overall aesthetics 

and volumetric relationships are explored. The overall character of the project 

is formulated. 

c) Design Development 

The goal of this phase is to strengthen the parti by generating appropriate and 

specific details that will guide the process of deciding on the techniques and 

technologies to be employed for fabrication and construction. 

d) Presentation Documents 

This phase combines all previous phases into a full set of documents 

representing the project. 

Deliverables for final critiques 

First semester: Students present their ‘urban constitution’ 

- a presentation projected on a screen (powerpoint or pdf projection) 

- the same presentation in book format (printed in A3 format) 

- 1 – 2 maps showing the constitution in map format 

Second semester: Students present their architectural / urban design project 

- drawings (scale depends on project) 

- site plan 

- ground floor plan 

- relevant upper floor plans 

- elevations 

- sections 

- relevant detail 

- photo montage / visualization 

- models (scale depends on project) 

- site model 

- model of building / urban design 


Learning outcomes 

1st semester : territorial scale 

2nd semester : architectural scale 

laba students are able to: 

1st semester 

- critically assess their own cultural background and how it influences the 

understanding of a site 

- use comparative case-studies to better understand their own research 

location 

- analyze the influence of key issues such as housing, infrastructure, economic 

measures, governmental measures, etc. on urban areas 

- create an ‘urban constitution’, that is a long-term roadmap for the development 

of an urban area 

- present their work through oral presentations and printed documentation 

including texts, diagrams and maps 

- learn to work in groups 

2nd semester 

- formulate a feasibility study regarding a site and program of their own 

choosing 

- conduct field research including the survey and documentation of a site 

- initiate and follow a project through the various design phases: schematic 

design, design development and detail drawings 

- present their project through drawings, models, text descriptions, as well 

as oral presentations 

Recommended complementary classes 

Students are encouraged to take further classes on the topics of territorial 

and urban planning and theory. Of the current study plan we consider the 

following classes as particularly relevant to our studio: 

AR-221, 222, 323, 324, 421, 422 Theory of architecture 

AR-223, 224, 323, 423m 424 History of architecture 

AR-451, 452 Architecture and construction of the city 

AR-261, 362 Theory of urban design 

AR-383 City and habitat: from housing to territory 

AR-458 city and mobility 

AR-477 Understanding and reconceiving the urban 

AR-492 Globalization and regionalization 

AR-465 Urban habitat and development 

AR-459, 460 City sciences 

AR-489 Urban sociology 


Research 

laba merges analytical research with creative design, seeking to develop and 

refine methodologies which produce ideal solutions for specific programs, 

locations, technologies or conditions. Many critical issues influencing 

contemporary territories have enormous spatial implications, yet are seldom 

addressed by architects. laba investigates these issues. 

The pressure of immigration into European fringe cities (Athens- City of 

Immigrants /Architecture of Integration lapa 2010/11) and the urbanization 

of the ocean (A Territorial Constitution for the Barents Sea, laba 2011/12) are 

two examples. 

Technological developments such as GIS allow architects to investigate 

urban development from any distance. Vast resources of information and 

data are available and accessible. Sophisticated environmental modelling is 

already possible through this technology. Ultimately, environmental factors 

influencing cities can be designed and tested. 

At the same time, to really understand urban phenomena architects need to 

do extensive field work. The close-up view of urban situations at the human 

scale, and the “gods-eye” view inform each other respectively and are 

mutually dependent. Coupling these perspectives and utilizing the available 

technological resources reveal the true nature of a particular urban context, 

and enable the architect to arrive at specific local solutions for global tasks. 

Through the development of this set of skills, laba aims to strengthen the 

architect’s position within the urban debate. This approach also informs the 

teaching programme. 

Currently laba maintains a broad research base, drawing on experience gained 

from specific design locations where a new urban or territorial condition is 

manifested. Two particular areas of interest are; 

- design as mediator of the urban context 

- digital tools and their influence on the design and production of architecture. 

laba’s research is currently carried out by one post-doctoral position, two 

doctorates and one research assistant. Further to this, laba is committed to 

the development of an interdisciplinary design doctorate “Complex Design” 

at the EPFL through the SNF programme “ProDoc” (application in progress). 

Two further research proposals have been submitted in 2012: CH16M2048 

(1 doctoral position) and WiuUrbis (Waste Impact on Environmental and Urban 

Design in Romania) part of the SNF Romanian-Swiss Research Programme 

(two 50% positions) where both partners (EPFL LABA and UVT-DG) aim at 

identifying the best solutions for environmental and urban design in Romania, 

which will be used primarily by decision makers in Romania but also by 

research circles in both Switzerland and Romania. 

The project’s solutions are supported by GIS and Remote Sensing techniques 

and incorporate several methods: (a) volunteer mobile information (VGI), 

(b) GIS mapping, and (c) 3D computer simulations. The other solutions are 

offered by architects, who will create waste-management-based urban 

design models. The cumulative solutions will contribute, on the one hand, 

to a better understanding of the problem and help raising awareness among 

stakeholders and, on the other, to the creation of an implementable urban and 

environmental design of the selected locations. 


ocess is complex and requires large quantities of data and significant 

rn a valid topography. This process is, itself, not a design methodology, 

o drive context or data for generative design methods. However, if the 

is an abstract or re-interpreted surface (rather than 1:1 precision) then 

ay be computationally inefficient and overly complex for the desired 

rams 

on is a decompositional method for subdividing an area or volume. 

determined by an explicit Research 

distribution of points, where each point 

oid of a corresponding Voronoi cell. The shape and area of each cell are 

hat the boundary is a function of the distance to all immediately 

that field. The simplicity of the diagram and mathematics allows it to 

lar but associative division, but the method can be used in three (and 

r) dimensions. 

i Diagrams: a.) 2-D diagram, b.) 3-D conceptual model (Knauss + Oesterle) 

med after Georgy Voronoi, who developed the mathematical method 

cell distribution and from mathematical packing theory. The 

hod is used extensively in disciplines involved in mapping and statistics, 

in fields of biology, chemistry and metallurgy. This method has been 

ed in digital art and architecture investigations. 15 Its popularity has 

oint where some software programs have recently encoded Voronoi 

e general toolsets, and in others CAD software external plug-in’s are 

te the subdivisions. xv 

mars 

are a conceptual system used for investigation of emergent systems in 

d conceives a design as an experimental test field, which is populated by 

with specific behavioural rules and interactive potential. The system is 

hrough iteration, and the resulting behaviours and interactions reveal 

the system. Conceptually the system determines the complex 

otential of an emergent system 

re inherently graphical languages, and as such they require a medium 

he generation engine for interaction. Shape grammars differ from 

es and Chomsky dictum in that the development of a system may occur 

. (2010):15 

digital technologies application 

fish farming in Mediterranean sea 

GIS visualisation 

Bifurcation of the Digital Chain 

This research investigates contemporary digital technologies and how they 

are influencing architectural design and production. 

The parameters affecting architectural design are becoming increasingly 

complex and interrelated. In contemporary society, digital tools are used to 

mange the complexity of information, and digital technologies have changed 

the way people interact with information and the world around them. This 

thesis investigates the use of contemporary digital technologies in design and 

production to determine if they are also being used effectively to manage the 

increasing complexity of architectural design projects. The research explores 

this topic at the level of both design theory and technology theory, and then 

employs practical design and production investigations as “proof of concept” 

for the developed theories. The research work concludes by providing an 

answer to the question: “do current digital technologies constitute a paradigmshift 

in architecture?”. 

The role of ocean space in contemporary urbanization 

Pressure on ocean space for energy production, extraction of resources, 

residential, infrastructural and logistical development is increasing. Although 

research has shown that almost no part of the global ocean remains 

unaffected by human impact, as yet few architects are involved in this process 

and physical structures in the ocean seem to be determined by engineering 

and world market logistics. 

The objective of this research is to propose a position for ocean spatial typologies 

within the contemporary urban debate in relation to networks, landscape, 

ecology and technology. Ocean activities characterized by a quantum shift in 

intensity, scale and technology will be the focus of the examination. 

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the majority of spatial decisions 

about the ocean apply planning instruments directly comparable to those 

used on land. 

Interaction with water in the form of planning implies particular operational 

conditions and responsible treatment of a valuable resource and a complex 

habitat. Which forms of urbanisation, and which planning strategies can be 

developed with the ocean itself as an “active” agent? 

GeoDesign as an approach to Architecture 

In architecture a variety of 2D and 3D CAD software solutions are used for 

design and design rendering to create a virtual representation of architectural 

projects. Although these tools have a great capacity of handling large amounts 

of data, they fail in integrating the project in it’s urban and environmental 

context. Geographic Information Systems and their software application can 

offer the missing support in designing a well-integrated project. 

Laba thus investigates the possibility of creating a GIS Decision Making 

Software Model for Architecture, both using existing software and new 

software development. laba’s existing and extensive methodology of site 

investigation will be expanded through a GIS DMM (Decision Making Model). 

This model will incorporate a multitude of data layers, from climate data up to 

political administration information, which will enable the designer to grasp 

the local situation in one central location. 


Research 

LiDAR model 

population density map 

urban portrait from studio basel 

Mumbai 

Programming Interfaces and Google’s keyhole technology. 

Laba is also starting to investigate the usage of high resolution LiDAR 

technologies for site investigation and urban fabric analysis. Using LiDAR 

architects will be able to stay in touch with the project site even if it is far 

away from the architectural office. Integrating this knowledge in the laba 

investigation model (LIM) will provide the architect with extensive knowledge 

of the site’s condition. 

CH16M2048 

Within the framework of a larger Sinergia grant application initiated by the 

ALICE lab under Professor Dieter Dietz, laba will conduct research on the 

urban morphology of a hypothetical Switzerland with 16 million inhabitants in 

2048. This will be the focus of our 2012 / 2013 studio. 

Even though the current official projected number of inhabitants for 2048 

is smaller (around 13 – 14 mil.), the number of inhabitants would reach 16 

million if we project the growth rate of the last few years into the future. 

This doubling of the population will put considerable pressure on the built 

and rural environment of Switzerland. We believe it will not be sufficient to 

simply continue with the existing regional and urban strategies, but that new 

approaches are needed. Given the longevity of urban developments, we further 

believe it to be necessary to envision them far ahead of time, rather than react 

step by step to immediate pressures. 

In our first semester, we will look at 5 different regional zones ranging from 

metropolitan areas to rural areas and propose ‘constitutions’ for these types of 

zones. In the second semester we will focus on exploring urban morphologies, 

that is urban and architectural interventions that test and support the urban 

constitutions established in the previous semester. Each architectural / urban 

design intervention will refer back to the urban constitution of the zone in 

which it is located. 

Sustainable built environments – Holcim Foundation Forum 2013 

laba conducts research on sustainable built environments within the 

framework of the Holcim Foundation Forum 2013. Harry Gugger is in charge 

of a research group focusing on the ‘compact city’ and to what extent we can 

still argue today, that this is the most sustainable settlement type. Our group 

invited 4 experts from the fields of urban design, landscape architecture, 

sociology and urban planning and economics to discuss this topic. Each expert 

will submit a paper to be presented at the Forum in Bombay in April 2013 and 

to be published thereafter. Our own paper will act as a framework for the 4 


Reading list 

Histoire de l architecture moderne 

Learning from Las Vegas 

Delirious NY 

A 

Allen, Stan: Points and Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City 

B 

Baccini, Peter / Oswald, Franz: Netzstadt – Einführung in das Stadtentwerfen 

Baccini, Peter, Oswald, Franz: Netzstadt – Transdisziplinare Methoden zum 

Umbau urbaner Systeme 

Bell, Daniel: The Coming of Post-Industrial Society 

Benevolo, Leonardo: Histoire de la Ville 

Brown, Denise / Venturi, Robert / Izenour, Stephen: Learning from Las Vegas 

Burdett, Richard: The Endless City 

C 

CIAM manifesto 1933 

Corboz, André: Le Territoire comme palimpeste et autres essais 

D 

E 

F 

Flury, Aitoa: Cooperation: The Engineer and the Architect 

G 

H 

Hall, Peter: Cities of Tomorrow – Critical History of Planning in Theory and 

Practice in the 20th Century 

David Harvey: The condition of postmodernity 

Harvey, David: Spaces of Capital – Toward a Critical Geography 

Harvey, David: Cities of Hope 

Herzog and de Meuron: El Croquis 

Hobsbawn, Eric: The Age of Capital 

I 

J 

Jacob, Sam: Ceci n’est pas une pipe 

Jacobs, Jane: The Death and Life of Great American Cities 

Jameson, Frederic, Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism 

Jameson, Frederic / Meyoshi, Masao: The Cultures of Globalization 

K 

Kahn, Louis: Monograph 

Klitz, A. / O.Frey / W.Rosinak: ‘Stadt und Nachhaltigkeit’ 

Koolhaas, Rem: S,M,L,XL 

Koolhaas, Rem: Delirious NY 

Koolhaas, Rem: Content 

Kunstler, James Howard: The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of 

America’s Man-Made Landscape 

L 

Lampugnani, Vittorio: Architektur und Städtebau des 20. Jahrhunderts 

Le Corbusier: Monograph 

Lefebvre, Henri: The Production of Space (orig. „La Production de 

l’Espace“ Paris, 1981) 


Composition et non-composition 

Collage City 

The endless city 

LeGates, Richard T. / Stout, Frederic: The City Reader 

Loos, Adolf: sämtliche Schriften in zwei Bänden 

LSE: The endless City, Living the Endless City (LSE) 

Lucan, J.: composition et non-composition 

Lynch, Kevin: The Image of the City 

M 

N 

O 

OMA: El Croquis 

P 

Q 

R 

Rienets, Tim / Sigler, Jennifer / Christiaanse, Kees: Open City- designing coexistence 

(Arch Biennale Rotterdam 2009) 

Rossi, Aldo: L’Architecture de la Ville 

Rowe, Collin / Fred Koetter: Collage City 

S 

Sanaa: El Croquis 

Sassen, Saskia: The Global City 

Schmid, Christian: Stadt, Raum & Gesellschaft- Henri Lefebvre und die 

Theorie der Produktion des Raums, Stuttgart 2010 

Schuler, Martin / Dessemontet, Pierre: BFS = Atlas des mutations spatiales 

de la Suisse 

Soja, Edward W.: Postmetropolis – Critical Studies of Cities and Regions 

Stoll, Katrina / Lloyd, Scott: Infrastructure as Architecture - Designing 

composite networks 

T 

Tafuri, Manfredo: Architecture and Utopia 

U 

V 

Van der Rohe, Mies: Monograph 

W 

Weber, Max: Die Stadt des Occident 

X 

Y 

Z 

Zumthor, Peter: Apprendre à penser l’architecture

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