Anatomy of Change

The combined, interconnected forces of climate, demographic, and economic change are resulting in profound and unpredictable changes in architecture, landscape, and urban space.
Within Switzerland, Ticino is particularly affected by these developments. The canton in the South of Switzerland has a unique microclimate, a widespread infrastructure network, access to construction and energy resources, diverse migration flows, and a rich cultural heritage.
Over the course of three semesters, students at ETH Zurich developed projects with different time horizons ‒ from temporary, circular to permanent ‒ that address central aspects of the Ticino territory: climate change, an aging demographic, and resource use. In doing so, they open up new strategies for dealing with architectural transformation processes.

At a fundamental level, the publication understands change as a constitutive element of resilience, documenting the projects comprehensively with plans, construction details, architectural models, artistic images and collages. This effectively illustrates not only the specific projects but also their underlying design ideas and highlights how the narrative is key to communicating new strategies.

About the editors:
The six authors work at the Chair of Elli Mosayebi at ETH Zurich while also pursuing their own projects:
Elli Mosayebi is a partner at EMI Architekt*innen.
Violeta Burckhardt has her own landscape architecture firm studio erde.
Julian Meier also has his own architecture studio.
Matthew Phillips heads the interdisciplinary studio HSZJN398.
Nelly Pilz and her firm studiopilz work on projects at the interface between architecture and art.
Franziska Singer has her own firm with a special focus on transformation.