EPFL
Architecture is part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s educational programme, which is characterised by interdisciplinarity and a strong focus on science and technology. In this engineering-focused environment, EPFL Architecture distinguishes itself through a practical, project-based teaching approach in studio, which combines both technical and practical aspects with critical and cultural dimensions, placing particular emphasis on history and theory, art and representation, as well as the social sciences.
These disciplines situate architectural education within its technical, material, critical, and political dimensions, enabling it, through the shaping of space, to address social and environmental contemporary challenges.
Research, theory, and practice are inseparable, each nourishing the others in a transversal manner. Teaching is led both theorists and practitioners, who conduct their research within their own laboratories. As a result, their teaching is in constant renewal, directly engaged with contemporary issues, and remains both critical and alive.
Currently co-directed by two practicing architects engaged on the domestic dimension of architecture in both design and theory, Sophie Delhay as Director of Education and Pier Vittorio Aureli as Director of Research, the school places the question of domestic space, collective housing, and, more broadly, habitat at the core of its curriculum. This positioning situates architecture within both the long-term and contemporary conditions, whilst presenting a major challenge for future generations of architects.
Architecture is part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s educational programme, which is characterised by interdisciplinarity and a strong focus on science and technology. In this engineering-focused environment, EPFL Architecture distinguishes itself through a practical, project-based teaching approach in studio, which combines both technical and practical aspects with critical and cultural dimensions, placing particular emphasis on history and theory, art and representation, as well as the social sciences.
These disciplines situate architectural education within its technical, material, critical, and political dimensions, enabling it, through the shaping of space, to address social and environmental contemporary challenges.
