MSc ETH Landscape Architecture

RE-CULTIVATING THE SHATTERED LANDSCAPE OF THE LÖTSCHENTAL In May 2025, the Lötschental changed dramatically when the historic village of Blatten faced near-complete destruction: In just one minute, the village was covered by over 9 mio cubic metres of ice and rock when the Birch Glacier above it suddenly collapsed. Prior rockfall from the Kleines Nesthorn had deposited massive amounts of debris onto the glacier, increasing stress on the ice mass until on 28 May 2025, the glacier ultimately gave way, sending a vast avalanche of ice, rock and mud down the valley, burying almost 90% of the houses. The debris field stretches about two kilometres along the valley floor, forming a temporary lake by the blocked river Lonza. That day, historical landscape, agricultural land, infrastructures, houses and memories have been concealed - at the same moment, a completely new, naked nature was born. This raises not only the question of rebuilding the village, but also that of continuing to cultivate the landscape. ETH Zürich, D-ARCH, MScLA, Foundation Studio II, FS26 | Martina Voser, Gerda Stöckel, Dylan Torri, Martin Zwahlen

Tiltil, el contexto del Jardín Tiltil, comuna de la Región Metropolitana de Chile, concentra una condición territorial crítica: gran extensión, baja población relativa y una alta presión de actividades industriales sobre ecosistemas frágiles. Su condición de “zona de sacrificio” no refiere solo a la presencia de minería, canteras, cementeras, relaves, plantas de tratamiento o disposición de residuos, sino a una forma histórica de ocupación del territorio donde la extracción, la infraestructura y la gestión de externalidades han reconfigurado el paisaje y sus posibilidades de habitabilidad. A la vez, Tiltil presenta una diversidad climática y paisajística significativa, con zonas mediterráneas, semiáridas y de altura, lo que complejiza tanto la lectura ecológica del territorio como sus estrategias de manejo. En este contexto, la prolongada escasez hídrica intensifica las tensiones entre producción, vida cotidiana y agricultura local, volviendo visible una pregunta central para el paisaje contemporáneo: cómo sostener condiciones de habitabilidad en territorios atravesados por desigualdad ambiental. Tiltil no es solo un caso local. Es un territorio donde se hacen evidentes, de manera concentrada, las relaciones entre clima, extracción, infraestructura y poder. Y es en este contexto donde se desarrolla el Jardín: silencioso, de a poco, tomándose su tiempo. El suelo necesita ese tiempo para recomponerse y adecuarse a esta modificación. No ocurre de una vez. No se ve completo al principio. Primero se cubre. Luego retiene. Después cambia. A veces parece que no pasa nada. Pero pasa que el suelo empieza a durar un poco más húmedo. Y ese poco, aquí, es mucho. #arquitecturadelpaisaje #tiltil #sequia #landscapearquitecture #jardindelsigloxxi

The Spring semester has just begun for the MScLA program. @voser.landschaft.ethz and her team are leading Foundation Studio II, where students will investigate the role of water in landscape architecture at a regional scale. The studio is complemented by additional modules, including Digital Design Methods II and Law as a Design Factor, fostering an integrated approach that connects design exploration with technical skills and regulatory frameworks.

2 + 2 + 1 Eine Debatte über zeitgenössische Landschaftsarchitektur 28. Januar 2026, 18:30 | L200, Langstr. 200, Zürich. Die zeitgenössischen Herausforderungen aufgrund von Klimawandel und Verdichtung verlangen nach Adaption und Innovation. Um auf die Komplexität der im Raum stehenden Fragen reagierend neue Strategien entwickeln zu können, gilt es, unser Wissen zu teilen – sowohl zwischen unterschiedlichen Spezialist:innen als auch Generationen. In diesem Sinne lanciert 2+2+1 die Debatte zwischen praktizierenden Landschaftsarchitekt:innen, Lehrenden und Studierenden. Auf der Suche nach neuen Strategien und Positionen in der Landschaftsarchitektur. Gäste: • Aisling O’Carroll, ETH Zürich, Professur für Landschaftsarchitektur und Geohistorische Praxis • Beatrice Kiser, rundum landschaft und ETH Zürich, Professur Voser • Young Jae Shin, Student Master Landschaftsarchitektur • Ines Plasencia, Studentin Master Landschaftsarchitektur • Valentina Maldonado, Studentin Master Landschaftsarchitektur Kontakt: Coralie Berchtold, [email protected] Veranstaltungsseite: https://www.nsl.ethz.ch/2-2-1-eine-debatte-ueber-zeitgenoessische-landschaftsarchitektur-6/ #landschaft #landscape #landschaftsarchitektur #landscapearchitecture #lehre #teaching #research #forschung #wassermanagement #watermanagement #ethzürich #ethz #darch #arch #mscla #diskussion #discussion #debatte #debate #klimawandel #climatechange

Materials and construction module. Two weeks of lectures, workshops and exercises focusing on techniques for modifying ground conditions. Through a series of lectures, short exercises and physical workshops, students learn the fundamental techniques of land and water manipulation, focusing on earthwork, hydrology, material qualities, and constructing with stone. Students learn how to read contours, modify topography through grading, and how to work with stone to build retaining walls and paving. The module is led by Prof. Teresa Gali-Izard and Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich (Chair of Being Alive)

SAVE THE DATE: LUS Lecture Series coming up in November with very interesting lecturers from MScLA, LUS and guests professors visiting the Institute of Landscape and Urban this Fall semester at D-ARCH. @officeoflivingthings @_boulouki_ @atelier.nunes.gomes @albena.yaneva @studioboulouki_eth

Application window for MScLA 2026 will open on 1 November 2025. Join Master your Master to find out more about our program. Thursday 30 October 2025 12:15 – 12:45 (CET): The admissions office will inform about the formal admission requirements and answer general questions regarding the application process 13:30 – 14:00 (CET): The MScLA will present itself and give an overview of the contents and specific requirements of the program. More details on the link in bio. APPLICATION MScLA 2026 International Bachelor’s degrees: 1–30 November 2025 This application window is mandatory for: - students with a Bachelor’s degree from outside Switzerland - students who wish to apply for the Excellence & Opportunity Scholarship Programme (ESOP) or a Direct doctorate programme (DD) - students with a Master’s degree/PhD from a Swiss university who obtained their undergraduate degree outside Switzerland All other candidates are also welcome to apply during this period. Swiss Bachelor’s degrees: 1– 30 April 2026 This application window is only for students with a Swiss Bachelor’s degree.

Foundation Studio I with Chair of Being Alive in the autumn semester 2025 is located at a red clay quarry in the municipality of El Papiol, just south of Barcelona along the Llobregat River. Throughout the semester students translate the particular conditions of this site of extraction, rigorously drawing local climatic, geologic, hydrological, pedological and vegetative processes, and situating these systems in a larger context. Working with this method of translation, students make design proposals that respond to the unique material and ecological potentials the quarry.

Wednesday, 24.09.2025 at 09:30: Lecture by Prof. Dr. Olivier Bachmann (D-EAPS) about the creative and destructive power of volcanoes as part of the Advanced Studio „Living with the Volcanoes“ led by Prof. Joao Nunes and his team. Olivier Bachmann is Professor of magmatic petrology and volcanology at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on better understanding the eruptive dynamics of volcanoes, and the generation of magmas, tied to the evolution of the continental crust.

SAVE THE DATES for LAND KINO. The film series initiated by the MScLA students happening in Fall semester 2025. September 25 | 6.30pm The Fire Within [2022, Werner Herzog] October 16 | 6.30pm Natura urbana [2017, Matthew Gandy] November 6 | 6.30pm Nostalgia de la Luz [2010, Patricio Guzmán] November 27 | 6.30pm Princess Mononoke [1997, Hayao Miyazaki]

Congratulations to Professor Emeritus Günther Vogt who has received the Jellicoe Award 2025! The International Federation of Landscape Architects has honoured the Swiss landscape architect and Professor Emeritus Günther Vogt with the Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award, the highest distinction of the association. Read the article in the D-ARCH Magazine: arch.ethz.ch Photos: Christian Vogt (Masoala Rainforest, Hotel Greulich, Home of Fifa, LIFE) #landscapearchitecture #awards #landscape @vogtlandscape @iflaworld

13th Barcelona international landscape biennial For its 13th edition, entitled "Natural Intelligence?!", scheduled for November 19th-20th, 2025, the symposium will convene at the Palau de la Música. Our selected projects reflect a shared sensitivity to the dynamics of time and temporality, engaging with sedimentation as a formative force in the Swiss landscape, revealing how landscape can emerge by staging and guiding those processes. Operating across scales and degrees of resolution, they unfold the complex interplay of layers that define landscape: water, topography, vegetation, and cultural meaning. In dialogue with the Biennial’s theme, these works position landscape architecture as a practice that harnesses the power of natural processes and understands design as a means of controlling them – form and impact. The aim of any intervention is to install new processes so that multi-layered habitats for flora, fauna, and humans can establish themselves. ETH Zurich | Martina Voser, Dylan Torri, Sofia Prifti Shin Young Jae, Valentina Maldonado, Ines Plasencia Gonzales Rubio, Nils Hayoz, Hoi Yan Young, Ni-Chin Tsai, Aamirah Nakhuda. /landscape_biennial_bcn/ /en/xiii-international-landscape-biennial-barcelona #landscape #landscapearchitecture #teaching #ethzürich #ethz #darch #arch #mscla #debate #climatechange #Barcelona #Naturalintelligence #palaudelaMúsica #Projects #temporality #sedimentation #topography #vegetation #culturalmeaning #naturalprocesses