“Learning from Context(s)” understands architecture as the precise reading and synthesis of layered conditions. Every site is an assemblage of climate, ground, politics, economy, city, history, and use—never empty, always situated. Architecture is conceived as a practice of assembling: meaning emerges through the relationships we establish.
The studio connects HIL—a flexible, open-ended structure from the 1970s—with the progressive stance of the Geneva School, whose interdisciplinary, collective, and context-based thinking continues to resonate today. From this dual perspective arises an approach that rethinks HIL not only as a building, but as an environment for learning, working, and research.
Students work with “cousins” of HIL: selected buildings in Geneva that are structurally, spatially, or atmospherically related. By transforming these cousins, they develop strategies that can be transferred back to HIL. Collaboration with the EPFL Structural Xploration Lab deepens the understanding of construction, materiality, and building processes.
Phase 1, “Action,” focuses on active reading of context: on-site presence, attentive observation, defining one’s own tools, and developing a clear project strategy. Phase 2, “Re-Action,” formulates a precise transformation that strengthens existing qualities, activates potentials, and responds to change.