Spring:
A Moratorium on New Construction
A Moratorium on New Construction
2025
Halt Extraction
EPFL Design Studio BA6, MA2
Course Number AR-302(ah), AR-402(ah)
“You know that we are living in a material world”
Madonna, Matthew E. Marston / Paul Christopher Brown, © Sony/atv Songs Llc, Imagem Publishing Ltd.
Nota Bene: This studio is part of the ‘Moratorium on New Construction’ cycle, one of RIOT’s meta agenda, following a series of topics seeking to center systemic change in architecture and the building industry. This means the class will prioritize radical designs that engage with repair, remediation, care, tactical interventions, system design and policy making, and interrogate architecture as the sole ‘art of building buildings.’ Architecture is here at the forefront, considered both as a problem but also as a powerful tool for change, if and when it is used as such.
‘Halt Extraction’ scrutinizes the intersection of design disciplines with extractivism and resource exploitation, focusing on developing post-extractive architectural and urban design strategies. The studio investigates how construction materials transform the Earth’s resources into our built environment through global and local supply chains, and how design can contribute to post-extractive architectures. Grounded in arguments explored in the So, if we admit the identity-shattering posRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTit the identity-shattering pos forthcoming book “A Moratorium on New Construction,” we seek to adress the political problems of construction as designers.
The course progresses through two main phases: 1) The research phase establishes a comprehensive understanding of how design disciplines intersect with extractivism and resource exploitation through mapping the global and local chains of construction materials and uncovering the normative systems in place that regulate their use in design strategies. By investigating construction materials (i.e., plaster, wood, concrete, brick, steel) and their political economy (how value is extracted from them), we hope to unpack how the industry translates the Earth’s resources understand the normative regulations, specs, and legal frameworks that dictate how these materials are deployed in construction. 2) Framed by these regulatory limits and equipped with critical thinking, we will devise design strategies that do not rely on destruction and exhaustion to produce spaces. During the design phase, building on this foundation, we will engage with mainly existing structures rather than defaulting to new construction, using current market conditions as testing grounds for alternative approaches. So, if we admit the identity-shattering posRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTit the identity-shattering po, if we admit the identity-shattering posRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTit the identity-shattering po
This studio is based on a conception of urban design as a multidimensional trans-scalar discipline. Not only political, economic, fSOCIAL, cultural, and geo-tectonic forces affect and shape the built environment at the planetary and global scale, at the territorial and landscape scale, at the neighborhood and urban scale, down to the architectural and material scale—and to the body of the human and more-than-human, but space and its arrangements have a reciprocating effect on these forces, humans, and non-humans acting upon them. We will design within these gradations, positing that each constituent scale is distinct and can be considered on its own, yet the piece as a whole is only complete with each scale, resulting in the sum of all the small scales producing a large-scale total. The studio engages with complex issues surrounding the political economy of space production, the actors, forces and mechanisms that generate the spaces we inhabit. We will also think around temporal scales to challenge “impatient capital” as it dictates architectural, urban, and landscape projects for immediacy, exploring seemingly contradictory notions of ephemeral and impermanent, durable, and longevity as frameworks for operation. So, if we admit the identity-shattering posit that construction can never be sustainable, how to respond to housing needs? This studio intends to
The studio seeks to bridge the gap between material extraction and architecture and to articulate questions about designers’ role in inventing futures liberated from the destructive systems construction relies upon. In the face of an unprecedented social and climate crisis, we seek to critically engage with the tensions brought by modernity, without relying on romanticized pre-modern materialities. On the one hand, we will deploy and expand the ‘classic’ tools of spatial representation at our disposal (skteches, 3d, plans, fSOCIALfSOCIAL, fSOCIAL, ). We will use drawing as a research device, in particular, to uncover supply chains and architectural precedents. On the other hand, we will seek to expand our design toolbox to engage with the complexities of what a post-extractive architecture can be and new tools (various media, narratives, performances, etc.)fSOCIAL, The course recognizes that construction materials are deeply embedded in complex historical and contemporary contexts. Through research, readings, and field work, we will get insights on how materials used in construction today are grounded in “past, present, and future extraction and production processes (...) extracted from lands with a long history of unjust exploitation of colonized ond to housing needs? This studio intend to)ond to housing needs? This studio intends to)ond to housing needs? This studio intends to) or marginalized groups—racialized and gendered bodies—processed through energy-hungry, mechanized methods that have disastrous impacts on ecologies and populations globally, then and now.” [1]
[1] Malterre-Barthes, Charlotte. A Moratorium on New Construction (Berlin, London: Sternberg Press/MIT Press, 2025).
[2] Image Source: Andeer, granite quarry, 1976. 298 pictures. Schmid, Walter. ETH Library Zurich
[3] Architecture and Material Extraction SS25 Lecture Series:
17 Feb 2025, EPFL, 16h00-17h30 CET: Armelle
Choplin
18 March 2025, EPFL 18h30-20h00 CET:
Harquitectes*
25 March 2025, EPFL, 18h00-19h30: Galaad Van Daele
07 April 2025, Online, 16h30-18h00: Nadja Gaudillière-
Jami
15 April 2025, EPFL, 18h30-20h00: Charlotte
Malterre-Barthes & Menna Agha*
*Hosted by the EPFL ENAC School Lecture Series
[4] Students: Colin Baumgartner, Nicolas Cattin, Tamara Khalil, Michelle Lepori, Costanza Mizrahi, Eva Père, Marwan Abansir, Ben Begon, Alex Collet, Arthur Douillet, Leo Duyck, Auriane Farine, Eddy Friedli, Nicolas Gemelli, Lydia Genecand, Raúl Hansra Sartorius Ranjit Singh, Helen Herget, Ysaure Landon, Esteban Lorenzo, Valérie Maillard, Julien Nicod, Alexandre Srivastava, Gabriel Treyer
[5] Guests: Merve Bedir, Tanya Zein, Katerina Chalvatzi, Silvia Egger, Mattia Pretolani, Nagy Makhlouf, Summer Islam, Theodora Stefan, Claire Logoz, Alia Bengana, Catalina Mejia Moreno, Thomas Padmanabahn, Menna Agha & Oliver Lutjens
[6] Living Archives
[7] Teaching Team: Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Antoine Iweins, Elif Erez-Henderson, Kathlyn Kao; Student Assistants: Eva Oustric, Carolina Pichler
Spring:
A Moratorium on New Construction
A Moratorium on New Construction
2025
Halt Extraction
EPFL Design Studio BA6, MA2
Course Number AR-302(ah), AR-402(ah)
“You know that we are living in a material world”
Madonna, Matthew E. Marston / Paul Christopher Brown, © Sony/atv Songs Llc, Imagem Publishing Ltd.
Nota Bene: This studio is part of the ‘Moratorium on New Construction’ cycle, one of RIOT’s meta agenda, following a series of topics seeking to center systemic change in architecture and the building industry. This means the class will prioritize radical designs that engage with repair, remediation, care, tactical interventions, system design and policy making, and interrogate architecture as the sole ‘art of building buildings.’ Architecture is here at the forefront, considered both as a problem but also as a powerful tool for change, if and when it is used as such.
‘Halt Extraction’ scrutinizes the intersection of design disciplines with extractivism and resource exploitation, focusing on developing post-extractive architectural and urban design strategies. The studio investigates how construction materials transform the Earth’s resources into our built environment through global and local supply chains, and how design can contribute to post-extractive architectures. Grounded in arguments explored in the So, if we admit the identity-shattering posRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTit the identity-shattering pos forthcoming book “A Moratorium on New Construction,” we seek to adress the political problems of construction as designers.
The course progresses through two main phases: 1) The research phase establishes a comprehensive understanding of how design disciplines intersect with extractivism and resource exploitation through mapping the global and local chains of construction materials and uncovering the normative systems in place that regulate their use in design strategies. By investigating construction materials (i.e., plaster, wood, concrete, brick, steel) and their political economy (how value is extracted from them), we hope to unpack how the industry translates the Earth’s resources understand the normative regulations, specs, and legal frameworks that dictate how these materials are deployed in construction. 2) Framed by these regulatory limits and equipped with critical thinking, we will devise design strategies that do not rely on destruction and exhaustion to produce spaces. During the design phase, building on this foundation, we will engage with mainly existing structures rather than defaulting to new construction, using current market conditions as testing grounds for alternative approaches. So, if we admit the identity-shattering posRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTit the identity-shattering po, if we admit the identity-shattering posRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTit the identity-shattering po
This studio is based on a conception of urban design as a multidimensional trans-scalar discipline. Not only political, economic, fSOCIAL, cultural, and geo-tectonic forces affect and shape the built environment at the planetary and global scale, at the territorial and landscape scale, at the neighborhood and urban scale, down to the architectural and material scale—and to the body of the human and more-than-human, but space and its arrangements have a reciprocating effect on these forces, humans, and non-humans acting upon them. We will design within these gradations, positing that each constituent scale is distinct and can be considered on its own, yet the piece as a whole is only complete with each scale, resulting in the sum of all the small scales producing a large-scale total. The studio engages with complex issues surrounding the political economy of space production, the actors, forces and mechanisms that generate the spaces we inhabit. We will also think around temporal scales to challenge “impatient capital” as it dictates architectural, urban, and landscape projects for immediacy, exploring seemingly contradictory notions of ephemeral and impermanent, durable, and longevity as frameworks for operation. So, if we admit the identity-shattering posit that construction can never be sustainable, how to respond to housing needs? This studio intends to
The studio seeks to bridge the gap between material extraction and architecture and to articulate questions about designers’ role in inventing futures liberated from the destructive systems construction relies upon. In the face of an unprecedented social and climate crisis, we seek to critically engage with the tensions brought by modernity, without relying on romanticized pre-modern materialities. On the one hand, we will deploy and expand the ‘classic’ tools of spatial representation at our disposal (skteches, 3d, plans, fSOCIALfSOCIAL, fSOCIAL, ). We will use drawing as a research device, in particular, to uncover supply chains and architectural precedents. On the other hand, we will seek to expand our design toolbox to engage with the complexities of what a post-extractive architecture can be and new tools (various media, narratives, performances, etc.)fSOCIAL, The course recognizes that construction materials are deeply embedded in complex historical and contemporary contexts. Through research, readings, and field work, we will get insights on how materials used in construction today are grounded in “past, present, and future extraction and production processes (...) extracted from lands with a long history of unjust exploitation of colonized ond to housing needs? This studio intend to)ond to housing needs? This studio intends to)ond to housing needs? This studio intends to) or marginalized groups—racialized and gendered bodies—processed through energy-hungry, mechanized methods that have disastrous impacts on ecologies and populations globally, then and now.” [1]
[1] Malterre-Barthes, Charlotte. A Moratorium on New Construction (Berlin, London: Sternberg Press/MIT Press, 2025).
[2] Image Source: Andeer, granite quarry, 1976. 298 pictures. Schmid, Walter. ETH Library Zurich
[3] Architecture and Material Extraction SS25 Lecture Series:
17 Feb 2025, EPFL, 16h00-17h30 CET: Armelle
Choplin
18 March 2025, EPFL 18h30-20h00 CET:
Harquitectes*
25 March 2025, EPFL, 18h00-19h30: Galaad Van Daele
07 April 2025, Online, 16h30-18h00: Nadja Gaudillière-
Jami
15 April 2025, EPFL, 18h30-20h00: Charlotte
Malterre-Barthes & Menna Agha*
*Hosted by the EPFL ENAC School Lecture Series
[4] Students: Colin Baumgartner, Nicolas Cattin, Tamara Khalil, Michelle Lepori, Costanza Mizrahi, Eva Père, Marwan Abansir, Ben Begon, Alex Collet, Arthur Douillet, Leo Duyck, Auriane Farine, Eddy Friedli, Nicolas Gemelli, Lydia Genecand, Raúl Hansra Sartorius Ranjit Singh, Helen Herget, Ysaure Landon, Esteban Lorenzo, Valérie Maillard, Julien Nicod, Alexandre Srivastava, Gabriel Treyer
[5] Guests: Merve Bedir, Tanya Zein, Katerina Chalvatzi, Silvia Egger, Mattia Pretolani, Nagy Makhlouf, Summer Islam, Theodora Stefan, Claire Logoz, Alia Bengana, Catalina Mejia Moreno, Thomas Padmanabahn, Menna Agha & Oliver Lutjens
[6] Living Archives
[7] Teaching Team: Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Antoine Iweins, Elif Erez-Henderson, Kathlyn Kao; Student Assistants: Eva Oustric, Carolina Pichler
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