10. & 11. September 2026 | Architekturforum Zürich, Zollstrasse 115, 8005 Zürich.
Wie lässt sich Landschaft in einer Zukunft zunehmender Dynamik und Ungewissheit gestalten? Angesichts steigender hydrologischer Amplituden und klimatischer Herausforderungen geraten etablierte Methoden der planenden Disziplinen an ihre Grenzen. Das Kolloquium bringt im transdisziplinären Dialog verschiedene Perspektiven zwischen Intuition und Simulation, zwischen Projektion und Kalkulation zusammen und verknüpft prozessuale Methoden, Sichtweisen und Gestaltungsstrategien.
How can landscape be designed in a future of increasing dynamics and uncertainty? In view of rising hydrological amplitudes and climatic challenges, established methods in planning disciplines are reaching their limits.
Through transdisciplinary dialogues, the colloquium brings together diverse perspectives—from intuition to simulation, from design to computation—and connects processual methods, perspectives, and design strategies.
Language: English (German)
Programme
Thursday 10 September 2026
13:30 Welcome
14:00 Introduction
14:15 Session 1: Methods: Perception and Knowledge
Marco Rampini, Landscape Architecture
Pia Fricker, Landscape Architecture & Digital Design Methods
Ester Vonplon, Art & Photography
Alexander Robinson, Landscape Architecture
15:45 Break
16:30 Keynote Lecture I: Bradley Cantrell
17:30 Apero and informal Exchange
Friday 11 September 2026
10:00 Welcome
10:15 Introduction
10:30 Keynote Lecture II: Pia Fricker
11:30 Session 2: Experiments: Precision and Uncertainty
Johan Gaume, Alpine Mass Movement
Philipp Urech, Landscape Planning & Architecture
Maxim Zhestkov, Digital Art
13:30 Individual Lunch
15:00 Session 3: Perspectives: Intervention and Emergence
Rolf Weingartner, Hydrology
Bradley Cantrell, Landscape Architecture
Christian Waldvogel, Art
16:30 Reflection & Open Discussion
17:30 Apéro and informal Exchange
Speakers and Participants
- Prof. Bradley Cantrell, University of Virginia, USA
Bradley Cantrell is a landscape architect and scholar working at the intersection of computation, responsive technologies, and ecological infrastructures. His practice and research explore how computational thinking transforms the design and understanding of territory, not as a set of tools, but as a fundamental reorientation of how designers know and act in complex ecological systems. This work develops methods of modeling, simulation, and embedded computation that stay in relation to systems that exceed prediction. - Prof. Dr. Pia Fricker, Aalto University, Finland
Pia Fricker serves as Professor of Computational Methodologies in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism at Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Finland. Pia Fricker’s research and teaching link urban design and landscape architecture to the field of digital design culture through the lens of emerging technologies. - Prof. Dr. Johan Gaume, ETH Zürich / WSL
Johan Gaume is a professor of alpine mass movement at ETH Zürich and WSL, and researches landslides and debris flows through scientific modelling, MPM simulations, and other digital methods. - Marco Rampini, Atelier Descombes Rampini, Genf
Marco Rampini is co-founder of Atelier Descombes Rampini, a landscape architecture practice based in Geneva, Switzerland. The office has developed and realised a range of large-scale projects throughout the region, from river restoration to coastal landscapes and public spaces. Their work often engages with erosion, sedimentation and the growth of vegetation as active processes that transform the landscape over time. - Prof. Alexander Robinson, University of Southern California, USA
Alexander Robinson is a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Southern California. His lab develops hybrid physical and digital modeling tools, applied most extensively to the Los Angeles River. His work engages the natural and political processes behind large infrastructure, asking what changes when the instruments of engineering become physical, public, and open to many hands. - Dr. Philipp Urech, USI Mendrisio
Philipp Urech is an architect and researcher at the Institute of Urban and Landscape Studies (ISUP) at USI Mendrisio. His research investigates how physical form and dynamic systems of the environment stand in a reciprocal influence, with the intention to develop site-specific and resilient design solutions. To this end, he applies digital modelling and simulation alongside intuitive design approaches. - Esther Vonplon, artist, photographer
Ester Vonplon approaches landscape through artistic observation. Alongside other forms of art, she uses analogue photography to capture space and time. Her work focuses, though not exclusively, on the Swiss context. - Prof. Martina Voser, ETH Zürich
Martina Voser is a Swiss landscape architect and, since 2024, a full professor of landscape architecture at ETH Zürich. In 2004, she founded her own practice and is today a partner of mavo Landschaften. 2009-2018, she taught at the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio and was a visiting professor first at the EPFL, then at ETH Zurich, 2020-2023. The research of her chair focuses on how to adapt the Swiss cultural landscape to the challenges of climate change. She is a member of various commissions and juries. - Christian Waldvogel, artist
Christian Waldvogel is a Swiss conceptual, network and process artist whose work explores the Earth as a planet, fictional worlds and humanity’s place within the universe. Through installations, videos, photographs and publications, he brings artistic and scientific approaches into dialogue, often using utopian or impossible scenarios to question established ways of understanding our planetary conditions. - Prof. em. Dr. Rolf Weingartner, Universität Bern
Rolf Weingartner is a hydrologist and former professor of hydrology at the University of Bern. His research focuses on the management of water systems, including precipitation, river discharge, floods, and droughts. Through longterm observation of Swiss catchments, he has contributed to a better understanding of how hydrological processes and how societies respond to water-related risks. - Maxim Zhestkov, artist, director
Maxim Zhestkov is a London-based artist who uses emergent technology to explore simulated realities in a variety of mediums. Coming from the architecture and design background, he started working with the computergenerated imagery in 2001 to create behind the limits of the material world.
Moderated by: Martina Voser, Dennis Häusler
Registration
Until 6 September 2026 via this form.
