Research - LABA - EPFL

Theme Urban nature
epfl campus - 2005/06
Havanna - 2006/07
London - 2007/08
Geneva - 2008/09
Bahrain - 2009/10
Athens - 2010/11
laba manifest - august 2012
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”.
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