VVZ API is not affiliated with ETH Zurich. Data might be outdated or incorrect. Please view the official ETHZ Vorlesungsverzeichnis for binding information.
Summer School: From Canteen to Pasture
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:23:20
Abstract
Due to the change of food production preparation and supply to a more plant based nutrition, a rethinking of special qualities and parameters on how to consume our meals is necessary.Institutional canteens are used in peek times for a few hours a day. Their usage falls short of their potential capacity despite the important role they play in fostering a sense of community and connection.
Objective
Learning objective –stretching the imagination: exploring the boundaries of the design field by comparing and learning from a wide variety of spatial compositions (references through art) –getting in-depth knowledge about the conceptual and practical aspects of establishing and developing your own position physical as well as intellectual in relationship to the given circumstances. –hands-on experience setting up your own alternative practice with the help of professionals –challenging your ideas and knowledge about our relationship to food with the guidance of professionals and experts –unlearning the dominant habits and beliefs of product consuming environments underpinning their spatial qualities –special focus on creating architectural value beyond profit-making
Content
The format – We will set up a small studio station for a week in the headquarters of Roots & friends at the Maschinenstrasse. We will work together as a small practice in collaboration with food science students of the ETH. In the format of a series of workshops and discussions, visits engaging with various field experts around the topic of food and space. The results of the work will be presented in the form of a final event including an exhibition and a dinner with special guests. The aim – We will develop architectural strategies to densify the use and therefore the sustainability of canteen buildings, to define parameters for qualities of public space which can work as autonomous entities in the city, independent from consumer-oriented functions. We will take the canteen of the Zhdk at Toniareal as a case study for our research. What we intend to do – We will consider the canteen as a vast “Wiese” to reenact a given collection of activities within the given conditions of the eth canteen such as eating, reading, laying, writing, speaking, cooking involving the whole palette of body postures (laying, seating, standing) and costumes focus on meal sharing and social interactions. To test and stretch the relationship between bodies and food, bodies, and the space. To explore the mutation of space through different timeframes. The students will have the possibility to continue working on concrete projects of these matters. The methodology – From a collection of impressions gathered during various visits in dialog with our guest experts, we will stage choreographies and architectural solutions. We will write menus and develop programmatic and spatial arrangement ideas, which will be recorded through drawings, time-based work and set in a unique model. We will have a tight daily schedule, which includes breakfast and lunch sponsored by Roots & friends, as part of the iterative learning and investigation process. We will have external inputs – amongst others: Blanka Major, Severin Jann, Valentin Ribi who have been investigating on the “Stadtküche” as part of their master ‘thesis food forms; will bring us to a special tour of this former institution to tell us from different perspectives and through its history how the way we eat has changed. –Frédéric Brunner, entrepreneur and pioneer of plant-based food concepts in Zürich will bring us to the source of food and strategic places of the food chain supply of the city of Zürich. –Billie Hauser, nutritionist and food scientist, will open the door of her food laboratory, where we will compose menus.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC , MSC
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Registration & Places
- Signup End
- 31.05.2023
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar | Summer School: From Canteen to Pasture | No time listed | 40 h weekly |