Finally, this Overview
Finally, this Overview
Introduction 15 September 2026, 10 am
Studio Caruso Archive, Various Authors, 2011-2026
In this last year of the Chair, we will look back with fresh eyes at fifteen years of research and design work. We will reflect on our archive, the collective endeavour of around a thousand students, and see what happens when the Palais Royal meets Sophie Calle, and when the Bank of England meets Theaster Gates. With invited collaborators and using new tools, this year we will take full advantage of finally having this overview.
This semester we will work on a large site in Zurich that while part of the city’s public infrastructure has always been a territory with limited public access. A place where the slaughter of animals and the distribution of meat will soon end, and public conversations within the local neighbourhood have already begun about imagining the future of this place. The city is assessing the heritage values of the site, and its economic and programmatic potential. For us, the future of the Schlachthof is an opportunity to heal the difficult karma of the site and to imagine what the civic could mean in a future when different actors, and not just humans, are given agency, where diverse ideas of programme and not just those of production, are allowed to flourish. We are interested in arranging the site in looser and more iterative ways so that new uses and constituencies can be accommodated as they emerge as part of an ongoing process. The mosque, the hospice, the caravanserai were places of care and exchange where society would both arrange and represent itself, where space became civic. Can we imagine the grand hall, the access yards, and the warehouses of the Schlachthof becoming locations for pleasure, care, propinquity and for the enactment of new kinds of civic life in Zurich.
Construction and writing as integrated disciplines are included in this course.
11 September 2026, 11:00 am, Pierre Huyghe Exhibition, Fondation Beyeler
15 September 2026, 10:00 am, Studio Introduction, ONA E30
HS 2026, ETH Zürich, Studio Caruso
Emilie Appercé, Tibor Bielicky, Adam Caruso, Anna Clocchiatti, Florian Kilian Jaritz
The City in the City
Seminar Week: October 19–23, 2026
İstanbul, Matrakçı Nasuh, 1537
Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul… all cities whose complex histories can still palpably be felt as part of the present. An ever-expanding settlement, this was the capital for three empires, both trade route and centre. For much of its history this has also been a place of diversity and tolerance, a place with many languages that welcomed foreigners to become part of its heady demographic mix.
We will travel to these cities on the Bosphorus to visit both the sites of empire and the fleeting places of everyday life. With the guidance of local colleagues, we will engage with narratives that span the social, the political and the material, looking beyond the surface to understand how the present and the future are inextricably bound up with the residues of history.
Cost category C (501–750 CHF), 16 students. The fee includes accommodation, local transportation, two dinners, entrances and the reader. Travel to and from Istanbul is not included and must be arranged individually.
HS 2026, ETH Zürich, Studio Caruso
Emilie Appercé, Tibor Bielicky, Adam Caruso, Anna Clocchiatti, Florian Kilian Jaritz
Zurich Monuments
Final Discussions & Exhibition
May 27, 2026
Franck Ducotterd, Matteo Rezzonico, Nien-Hsin Lu
Wednesday, May 27th, Exhibition & Discussions, ETH Zürich, ONA E30, 09:00 – 18:00
Guests: Marianne Burkhalter, Susan Hefuna, Sam Porritt
The Pleasure in Small Things
Final Discussions & Exhibition
December 16, 2025
Tuesday, December 16th, Exhibition & Discussions, ETH Zürich, ONA E30, 08:00 – 19:00
Guests: Monster Chetwynd, Pierre Chèvremont, Tuukka Laurila, Nora Walter
Restaging – Reimagining: Exhibition and Discussions
October 15, 2025
Group A
Wednesday, October 15th, Exhibition & Discussions, ETH Zürich, ONA E30, 10:00 – 17:00
Diploma FS 2026
Architecture School
Dance Deck, Kentfield California, Anna Halprin 1954
The FAU (1969) designed by Vilanova Artigas was an expression of the radical Paulista architecture school of the 1960s, and Gund Hall (1972) designed by John Andrews had similar grand ambitions. The HIL building tells a very different story, accidentally becoming the department of architecture when the ETH administration decided it was best to remove architecture students from the city centre where they had become too involved in the youth protests of the 1970s. The ugly brown building has never been much of an expression of our school’s desires.
This semester we will use the diploma project to explore how the HIL building can be re-structured to be a base for the department, and a more hospitable and sustainable place to meet and work. Since it is unlikely that the present labyrinth could be improved by enlargement, our efforts will be to concentrate the existing, making it lighter, clearer and more flexible.
We will also study examples of more dispersed and non-institutional learning, like Anna Halprin’s Dance Deck and Thomas Hirschhorn’s Gramsci Monument, places that demonstrate how learning can be more flexible and responsive to both its students and to ever changing educational contexts. We will combine the idea of a central base with mutable cells, spaces in and around the city that can more closely engage with the diverse people and situations of Zurich and beyond. By working both with the centre and the non-centre, perhaps we can start to imagine an architecture school fit for the 21st century.
We will continue to collaborate with Newrope in three ‘rooms of entanglement’, workshops where content, process and place are considered in an expanded forum.
Preparation phase:
-study of alternative places of education and the preparation of journals that compile the sites, programmes and central qualities of these open and more flexible schools.
-preparation of glossaries of learning.
-preparation of atlas of the HIL building and of possible non-central sites for the future department of architecture.
Elaboration phase:
-development of specific design proposals that incorporate new programmes and ideas of learning for the new department of architecture.
Diploma, FS 2026, ETH Zürich
Chair Caruso
Emilie Appercé, Tibor Bielicky, Adam Caruso
Newrope
Ellena Ehrl, Freek Persyn
The Village
Diploma FS 2025
At the threshold of the village of Rüti GL stands a quiet industrial building. On its façade, one can just barely make out the words Wollweberei Rüti — a former wool spinning factory that now appears abandoned. Its walls still carry traces of the production, adaptations, and many transformations it has witnessed over more than a century.
The project begins with a territorial ambition: to create a regenerative farm at the scale of the village of Rüti. This vision requires a herd of 300 sheep, not only for landscape management and soil regeneration but also for the production of wool, milk, and cheese. At the same time, the village of Rüti has no access to higher education within 1.5 hours by train, which severely limits opportunities for young people in the region. The idea of combining agricultural production with higher education makes sense — especially in this idyllic setting, where reusing the former wool factory as an agronomy school becomes both a symbolic and practical gesture.
The core architectural idea is to anchor the new program within the existing structure as respectfully as possible. Rather than erasing or drastically altering the old factory, the interventions aim to integrate into it, preserving and celebrating its spatial qualities. The generous industrial volumes are maintained, with minimal additions. Where new elements are introduced, they are clearly readable and reversible. The result is a hybrid space: part learning environment, part productive farm, and part historical artifact.
The energy concept is based on a phased and locally rooted approach. Over several years, the 1850s building is gradually insulated with sheep wool, creating a clear connection between the function of the farm and the materials used in construction.
Underfloor heating is installed in the living and teaching areas, powered by a heat pump connected to the existing Kraftwerk — a former hydropower plant that remains in operation within the building.
Rather than replacing the original windows, they are carefully repaired, and small foam seals are added to reduce air infiltration, preserving their historic character while improving performance.
Architecturally, a major addition is a central circulation core — a staircase that connects all levels and improves accessibility throughout the building.
Moreover, the attic level is reimagined to accommodate guests and visitors. This space becomes a bridge between the local community, the school, and the outside world, supporting temporary stays, workshops, and events.
Finally, the largest architectural intervention addresses the key issue of the complex: the latest storage hall, built in 1982, hides the historic glazed façade from 1916 and casts the main hall into shadow. The intervention is therefore to deconstruct this extension, keep its wooden load-bearing structure, and reuse it to erect a new building with a classic dual-pitched roof. This new volume frees the historic façade and allows natural light to re-enter the main hall. The newly constructed building is dedicated to sheep milking, forming a functional and symbolic link between the herd and the historic fabric of the site.
In short, the project proposes a new rural campus model where farmers, students, researchers, and locals come together. It is a place of production, education, and innovation. It revives the site and responds to the demographic decline that has affected the villages of the Glarus valley since the end of its industrial golden age.
Remoteness and Identity
Diploma HS 2024
IEA Lecture
All buildings are beautiful
October 9, 2024, 18:00
Adam Caruso
IEA Lecture Series HS 24
Practice What We Teach?
ETH Zürich, ONA, Fokushalle
A New Museum
Diploma FS 2024
Ennenda is a place with a rich history that continues to shape its identity today. The intensive textile industry has left an indelible mark, contributing significantly to Ennenda's character. The architecture and facades of Ennenda stand as testament to that era, embodying both industrial prowess and wealth.
A notable historical landmark is the hanging tower on the Trümpi site. Despite being a reconstructed version of the original, this building still defines Ennenda's landscape, evoking memories of fluttering cloths from a bygone era.
The museum encapsulates this very essence of Ennenda, represented through its facades, placing them in the context of both historical and contemporary narratives. Just as vibrant prints from around the world were once replicated for textile printing, the exhibition mirrors these facades, faithfully reproducing selected elements.
These replicated facades serve as backdrops, layered with stories from the past and present. The building already hosts various functions, and the exhibition further enlivens the area by doubling as a part-time theater where these stories come to life. It creates moments where diverse people and perspectives converge, casting familiar scenes in a new light.
The set pieces are a blend of timber frames and three-dimensional textile facades.
As a ghostly presence, these facades shift between being a backdrop for dynamic projections and standing as delicate shadows that evoke the essence of Ennenda’s past. They create an ethereal atmosphere, showing the layers of history and capture the ephemeral nature of memory, reflecting how the town's history continues to influence its present.
Redesigning Museums
Diploma HS 2023
Re (Reframe, Rearrange, Repeat)
Naomi Schanne / Marthe Maerten
FS 2023 Re (Reframe, Rearrange, Repeat)
Diploma FS 2023
Ornament of Globalisation
Anastasia Zharova
FS 2023 Labour Reframed
Reframe, Rearrange, Repeat
Diploma HS 2022
Re form
Victoria Balmer / Marvin Bienz
FS 2022 Re form
Neue Kirche Fluntern
IEA Lecture
You cannot take risks without failing
March 15, 2022, 18:00
Adam Caruso
IEA Lecture Series FS 22
One Building, Failure Is an Option
ETH Zürich, ONA, Fokushalle
Interim, forever
Emanuel Pulfer / Ann Sophia Kirchhofer
HS 2021 Interim, forever
Projekt Interim Waldhaus
Diploma HS 2021
This project is a continuing dialog that aims at rendering visible the already existing, yet overlooked practices on site while re-attributing value to their process. It func- tions as an ongoing program of modification within the hotel framework that will better profit from the existing socio-cultural resources. A series of action and interven- tion varying in time and scale will generate a never-en- ding dialogue between the hotel and its actors in order to sustain change by fostering a light but durable change in the long term.
While remaining non-disruptive, a series of small-scale actions will reveal the value of the existing practices. With simple mean such as improving access to, or re- locating existing programs, light programmatic change will spread throughout the hotel while empowering their actors. New processes will be creating along the way al- lowing for the emergences of new relationship between the landmark and the social life of Zürich.
Women Writing Architecture
Website Launch
June 30, 2021
The website womenwritingarchitecture.org was launched this week on June 30th. The new resource, an annotated bibliography of writing by women about architecture, is now publicly accessible to discover, browse and contribute to.
Making Plans for Living Together
On Good Grounds
Fiona Kuang / Linda Sjøqvist
FS 2021 Making Plans for Living Together, Zürich
Monte Verità
Making Plans for Living
Norma Clematide / Christa Held
HS 2020 Making Plans for Living, Zürich
Gawu, El Anatsui
Re-Use Ciba
The project tries to question our approach to saving energy in the built sector. While concepts such as the 2000 Watt society are ambitious in their scope, real life implementations often seem to result in dull and lifeless consequences for everyday life. Instead of imposing ever more rules and regulations, the proposal seeks the pleasures of an alternative lifestyle inspired by a more sensible approach to energy consumption.
What is it worth?
Welche Heimat?
Tobias Wagner
HS 2019 Welche Heimat?
Society and the Image
Vivienne Galliker / Aileen Geistlich
HS 2019 Society and the Image, Zürich
Download Booklets
Public Building
Philippe Bleuel / Gent Ibrahimi
FS 2019 Public Building, Zürich
La Maison du Peuple, Jean Prouvé
Clichy, 1938
Hidden Interiors
Jaehee Shin
HS 2018 Hidden Interiors, Zürich
Chambre á Coucher, Charles Percier / Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine
Paris, 1812
The Ideal City
Silouane Fellrath / Gaetan Iannone
FS 2018 The Ideal City, Dietikon
Reconstruction of the European City, Rob Krier
South Friedrichstadt Berlin, 1977
Describing Beauty
Alessio De Gottardi
HS 2017 Describing Beauty, Zürich
Olivestone, Joseph Beuys
1984
Structure and Society
Jungwoo Lee / Amelie Nguyen
FS 2017 Structure and Society, Zürich
Certosa del Galluzzo
Florenz, 1341
Social Structure
Ann-Sophie Hagander / Alix Houlon
HS 2016 Social Structure, Graubünden
Infrastructure & Tourism
Graubünden
