Inconvenience - We are the Ministry for the Future

Abstract

This semester, we will research ETH’s built reality, by taking stock of the buildings and public spaces it develops as a federal institution. Holding 211 buildings in Zurich alone, accounting for five billion Swiss Francs, ETH’s real estate portfolio has a huge impact on the city. Which architectures, financial constructions, strategies, actors, and policies constitute ETH’s real estate?

Objective

1 Formulate key research questions. 2 Understand and develop skills on reporting qualitative and quantitative research. 3 Gather in-depth knowledge on ETH real estate politics, and through this, gain a realistic understanding of the dynamics around development and maintenance of (large) real estate portfolios in order to critically situate key findings. 4 Visit different sites, interview relevant people and evaluate whether reality complies with strategic decisions. 5 Reflect and take a position on architecture as a representation of a federal institution. 6 Gain confidence in designing feasibility strategies with an ability to be conscious of surrounding critical discourse. Assess the value of different strategies from different perspectives and make conscious recommendations. 7 Develop skills on how to document, draw, build, represent and communicate findings to different audiences. 8 Challenge the ubiquitous practice of replacing existing buildings. 9 Define a personal position about the agencies of the architect within research, development, and brief-making. 10 Learn how to work together with others, leaving room to explore individual interests. Develop skills to debate and learn how to contribute to the quality of the work of peers.

Content

In his sci-fi parable The Ministry for The Future from 2020, Kim Stanley Robinson brings the impact of climate change into the very near future. The book is set in Zurich, and posits ETH as an important agent for change. In the upcoming four semesters we will use this narrative as an invitation to ask this inconvenient question: are we actually working in the interest of future generations? For this first semester, we start with ETH’s built reality and its real estate strategy, by taking stock of the buildings, campuses, public spaces and landscapes it develops and maintains as a federal institution. Holding 133 buildings in Zurich alone, accounting for five billion Swiss Francs, ETH’s real estate portfolio has a huge impact on the city, the region and even the country. Which architectures, financial constructions, strategies, actors and policies constitute ETH’s real estate? To this end, with you, we will set up and run a Competence Center that scrutinises ETH’s real estate politics. Five different departments of the Competence Center each focus on a specific aspect and develop an in-depth understanding of it. From here, the Center will develop feasibility studies that propose and test out spatial strategies, priorities and briefs through design research. By dressing up as a Competence Center, we take the perspective of the institution seriously. We try to understand and tackle the inconvenient questions and realities it is facing from the inside, by embodying it, through roleplay and empathy. What if we are the Ministry for the Future? What would we do?

Resources