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

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.
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