17/02/2026
Studio Wallness / Fall semester 25-26 / ETH Zürich
This semester, we transformed existing concrete structures in the center of Athens into thermal refuges. Rather than approaching them through formal or compositional strategies, we repositioned performance as the primary operative framework. Insulation and comfort became the exclusive drivers of the design process, the only determinants of form. Thermal resistance, material density, and hygroscopic behavior directly inform geometry and spatial organization. Such a repositioning compels the articulation of an unprecedented aesthetic, contributing to the emergence of a new architectural language. Hemp-based compounds, examined for their physical properties and specific porosities, further extend this inquiry. Through their hygrothermal capacities, they suggest expanded definitions of transparency — not merely as an optical condition, but as an environmental one, embedded in the regulation and exchange of energy and moisture between interior and exterior.
Thank you very much to .ethz for this invitation, and congratulations 👏 to the students for their hard work and commitment. It was a blast💥.
This studio wouldn’t have been the same without the help and the implication of Prof. Dr. Guillaume Habert and Dr. Guillaume Evrard (chair of Sustainable Construction), Irène Von Meiss-Leuthold and the laboratory ScopeM. We thank them for their valuable input and insightful contributions.
