Capital flight, debt, and crisis have left visible scars on the face of the built environment in cities world-wide. In central Athens, endemic vacancy, a deteriorating building stock, and a fragmented urban fabric are all symptoms of longer-term processes of decline. Supported by the Onassis Foundation, Reactivate Athens More
Developed by a group of researchers of the LUS Chair of Architecture and Urban Design, Prof. Hubert Klumpner, and supported by the groups of ITA, Prof. Dr. Arno Schlueter and Prof. Dr. Philippe Block, in collaboration with an international network of partners such as Universidad del Norte, the More
While South Africa is usually seen as a source of stability and prosperity in its region, approximately 7.5 million people live in informal settlements and the country faces an overall housing shortage of 2.5 million units. Arising from this context, Empower Shack is an interdisciplinary development project directed More
Bottom-up strategies are one way to address prevailing urban scarcities. Torre David, a 45-story office tower in Caracas, was almost complete when it was abandoned following the death of its developer and a national banking crisis that crippled the Venezuelan economy in 1994. Neglected for over a decade, More
Ruby Press. Mehr Can architecture and design respond to cities under stress? With its roots in a research and design initiative, this book presents a collection of 101 spatial ideas that map a post-crisis urban vision for Athens. Targeting a range of challenges, from the economy and public space, More
Having collaborated with Khayelitsha-based NGO Theater4Change on the 2016 production Holy Contract, the Urban-Think Tank Chair is now designing a new arts complex to replace the group’s existing self-built space. The Makukhanye Shack Theater will greatly expand the impact of programs already underway, as well as improve access More
Initiated in 2014, the Urban-Think Tank Chair is developing an urban game that aims to facilitate decision-making and design processes to understand complex, real-life urban transformations in cities worldwide. Part educational tool, part platform for scenario planning, the ongoing project supports a sustainable approach to urban development while More
In: Hou, Jeffrey; Spencer, Benjamin; Way, Thaisa; Yocom, Ken (Hrsg.): Now Urbanism: The Future City Is Here. Routledge. More This book explores the intersections of critical inquiry and immediate, substantive actions. The contributions recognize the rich complexities of the present city not as barriers or obstacles but as grounds for uncovering opportunity More
PDF Mehr The Empower Shack team is a response to unsustainable housing approaches in South Africa. What began as a design and build workshop, aimed at developing a double-story shack prototype for Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township, has evolved into a more ambitious project to implement design innovations for rapid and More
Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers. Urban-Think Tank, Lehrstuhl für Architektur und Städtebau, ETH Zürich. Fotografien von Iwan Baan. Mehr Torre David, a 45-story skyscraper in Caracas, has remained uncompleted since the Venezuelan economy collapsed in 1994. Today, it is the improvised home to more than 750 families living in More
Zurich: ETH Zurich, FCL Singapore. Mehr The magazine has grown to address a wide variety of global urban themes. Since its first edition, S.L.U.M. Lab has proven to be both provocative and popular. Knowledge sharing has always been a core aspect of the magazine, and many leading More
Can a museum be a force for change in a city? Inspired by citizen-led solidarity initiatives, the Urban-Think Tank Chair and Baier Bischofberger have redefined the iconic, but neglected, Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina – not as an institution dedicated solely to the display of objects, but as More
The Empower Shack project continues to evolve. The design research program has been completed, resulting in the documentation of a phased urban layout plan and a ‘fit for purpose’ low-cost housing prototype linked to an incremental plan for formal building code compliance. Initially conceived for a 68-unit pilot More
SwissAIM is an advanced software platform. It delivers dynamic high-resolution modeling of urban structures, landscapes, demographics, weather, energy, resources, and socio-economic conditions. Possible future urban scenarios will be synthesized for the whole of Switzerland from 2020 to 2050.
Founded in 1978 as a secluded site for drug rehabilitation, the Italian village of San Patrignano today consists of 1,600 residents whose therapy includes learning to produce food, furniture, and other goods. After visiting the community and markets in Emilia-Romagna, Urban-Think Tank’s design studio has been developing flexible More
The Urban-Think Tank Chair of Architecture and Urban Design recently launched a two-year design research project in the informal settlements of Cape Town, South Africa, with field surveys, commented walks and the design and facilitation of a series of open workshops. Referencing methods of participation from the Informal More
The Empower Shack project introduces an integrated approach to upgrading South African informal settlements, merging design innovation with community-driven spatial planning and livelihoods programming. The initiative links the roll-out of a two-story, self-built housing prototype with a participatory urban planning methodology supported by computational analysis. Funded by the Swiss Re Foundation, led by More
The devastating floods that hit Bosnia and Herzegovina in May revealed outdated planning mechanisms, as well as a growing problem of landslides in areas with informal settlements. A task force initiated at the open plenum of architects in Sarajevo aims to develop a response.
«As a creative practice, mapping precipitates its most productive effects through a finding that is also a founding; its agency lies in neither reproduction nor imposition but rather in uncovering realities previously unseen or unimagined, even across seemingly exhausted grounds. Thus, mapping ‘unfolds’ potential; it re-makes territory over More
The ETH Zurich and the IDB launched a pioneering collaboration in 2012, with the goal to provide applied research and integrated design solutions for Port of Spain, Trinidad. The Brillembourg & Klumpner Chair critically assessed river regeneration, cultural heritage restoration, and urban renovation within the framework of two More
Urban Parangolé is a framework that responds to the human need and desire for movement – it engages us in a dance with the city. This notion pays homage to the work of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica and extends the central tenet that ‘life is movement’ from the body More
Vertical Cities Asia is an annual architecture and urban design competition aimed at developing new urban models for rapidly growing cities in Asia. The competition uses high density as a tool to address the challenges of growing cities and to counter the perpetual multiplication of destructive typologies. Each More
The current design studio of the chair of Architecture and Urban Design (Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner) is the pilot project of a new, on-going collaboration between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the ETH Zurich. The IDB recently launched the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative (ESCI). Within More
In our trajectory of urban research on informality, Torre David, an abandoned and subsequently invaded 45-story office tower in Caracas, Venezuela, presents a shift from the marginalized fringes of the city to the urban core. As such, the tower represents an opportunity to test new, alternative urban models.
Urban-Think Tank – Prof. Alfredo Brillembourg and Prof. Hubert Klumpner, with Michael Contento and Lindsey Sherman – has won the Holcim Gold Award 2011 for Latin America with their project «Grotão – Fábrica de Música», a terraced landscape and multifunctional public building located in the Paraisópolis favela of More
Das Special Urban Design Studio – Projekt «SymbioCity» gewinnt den internationalen Studentenwettbewerb Vertical Cities Asia 2011, Chengdu, ausgelobt von der National University Singapore. Das Special Urban Design Studio wurde von der Professur Christiaanse zusammen mit der Professur Brillembourg/Klumpner geleitet. Mehr. Ansprechperson: Nicolas Kretschmann
Professor Alfredo Brillembourg and Professor Hubert Klumpner hold the chair for Architecture and Urban Design at the ETH Zurich as of July, 2010. They currently run an interdisciplinary practice dedicated to high-level research and design on a variety of subjects surrounding contemporary architecture and urbanism. Here, they present More
In Hoograven Invites You, project presented last year with the Utrecht Manifest, urban Morocco and urban Holland were compared to extend the frontiers of knowledge regarding the quality of urban environments and human experience with respect to social design. The informal is embraced, its elements and processes defined, More
Lecuna Avenue Revitalization project is a master plan linked to the Metro Cable San Agustin; it aims to recover abandoned sites leftover from the construction of Caracas Metro’s Line 4, in order to create new low-income, residential buildings and community services. By proposing a series of interventions that More
Previous experience has shown that the residents of the barrios in Caracas are well-informed and knowledgeable, and possess a firm understanding of what their communities need most, even if untutored in the principles of planning and development. In this vein, the expertise of residents, community leaders, government officials, More
This project is a prefabricated construction system that explores a modular, structural and vertical arrangement of a series of track and field sports (volleyball, martial arts, running track, weight lifting area, basketball, etc.). Three have been built in Caracas, while versions will soon be constructed in Amman and More
Application period: 1 February 2024 – 30 April 2024. Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design ETH Zürich D-ARCH LUS and EPFL ENAC HRC joint master programme.
Professor Hubert Klumpner has been a member of the chair for Architecture and Urban Design at the ETH Zurich since July, 2010. He lectures the course entitled Introduction to Urban Design, as well as teach upper-level studio design. The professor currently runs an interdisciplinary practice dedicated to high-level research and design on a variety of subjects regarding contemporary architecture and urbanism.