ETH Zurich's Dietmar Eberle on campus (Recap)

Dietmar Eberle is Professor of Architecture and Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland. He visited Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture last October 19, 2017 to give an open lecture at the Department of Architecture on the work by his office Baumschlager Eberle Architekten.

Professor Eberle has combined for decades a double condition as a practitioner of architecture in his office be - Baumschlager Eberle Architekten, and as an academician through teaching and research at several institutions in different countries. He mainly teaches at ETH Zurich, where he is Professor of Architecture and Design since 1999 and has been the Dean of the Department of Architecture from 2003 to 2005. In addition, he has taught in Germany, Austria, USA, Israel, Hong Kong and Spain.
 
As an architect graduated from the Technical University of Vienna, he runs a prizewinning architectural practice since 1985 with offices in Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany, France, Vietnam and China. His practice has won a multitude of competitions and prizes granted to the built work. Professor Eberle has been awarded as Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2004. 
 
From his condition as an academician, Professor Eberle has developed for years an interesting teaching method on housing design, implemented in a very popular studio at ETH Zurich and published in the book From City to House: A Design Theory, published for first time in 2007 by gta Verlag publishers. Regarding his research activity, he has been for years the Head of the ETH Wohnforum – ETH CASE Centre on Architecture, Society & the Built Environment, a unit at ETH Zurich where research is done from multiple perspectives and disciplines, involving geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, cultural scientists, art historians, urban planners and architects.

In his lecture at the old building of the Department of Architecture, Professor Eberle addressed through his work topics such as architecture as social contribution, sustainability through design and time-based architecture. He considers architecture essentially as knowledge production for the society, where architects as practitioners are the transmitters of that knowledge to the public sphere through the architectural practice as design-based research. Sustainability is considered in its broader sense and achieved through architectural design, not only looking upon the energetic and economic factors for sustainable development, but the aesthetic, social and cultural values of design too. Time consideration is crucial as it is used as a material of construction, where change possibilities and adaptability are allowed in buildings as a rule. At the same time, his architecture is timeless since it is indifferent to fashion trends, but worried about its own essence and the relation to its context.
 
Professor Eberle’s lecture was part of a lecture and workshop-based course on architectural and urban design methodologies called DM in AU - Design Methods in Architecture and Urbanism at Aalto University Department of Architecture. The course includes lectures and workshops by Kees Christiaanse, Kune Office and Ecosistema Urbano, a combination of young and prestigious international architects visiting Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture as a continuation of former visits by Juan Herreros and Jens Richter (estudio Herreros) or the Alvar Aalto 2015 Medallists Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano (Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos).

More information:
Fernando Nieto
Department of Architecture
fernando.nieto@aalto.fi
+358 503713440
http://www.groupxaalto.fi