Dense and Green Building Typologies: Research, Policy and Practice Perspectives

Thomas Schröpfer is Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD) at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Principal Investigator of the Dense and Green Building Typologies project in the Future Cities Laboratory at the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC-FCL). He began his academic career at Harvard University where he was appointed Assistant Professor of Architecture in 2004 and Associate Professor of Architecture in 2008. He was named Full Professor after joining SUTD in 2011, where he became Associate Head of Pillar of ASD, Co-Director of the SUTD-JTC I3 Centre and Director of the University’s award-winning Advanced Architecture Laboratory. He held visiting professorships at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and National University of Singapore. In 2015, he was appointed member of the SEC-FCL Steering Committee. His book publications have been translated into several languages and include Dense + Green: Innovative Building Types for Sustainable Urban Architecture (2016), Ecological Urban Architecture: Qualitative Approaches to Sustainability (2012) and Material Design: Informing Architecture by Materiality (2011). He is the recipient of prestigious awards and recognitions, including the German Design Award, Singapore Design Award, International Union of Architects Award and Asia Education Leadership Award. His projects have been exhibited at important international venues, including the World Architecture Festival, the Venice Architecture Biennale and the World Congress of Architecture.

 

Sacha Menz is Full Professor of Architecture and Building Process at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich. He has served as the Dean of the Department of Architecture, for over ten years he is leading the Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA) where he designed and coordinated the building process of the Arch_Tec_Lab. He also established the Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) Programme in Architecture, Real Estate and Construction, as well as several CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies) courses at ETH. He held the position of Deputy Director at NCCR (National Centre of Competence in Research) in Digital Fabrication and was a Guest Professor at South-Eastern University in Nanjing, China. Trained in Architecture at ETH with a master’s degree, Sacha co-established Sam Architects and Partners (SAM) in Zürich/Switzerland. SAM designed the award-winning »Vorderer Sternen« Building in Zürich. He is member of several boards such as the Architectural Board of Consultants for the City of Ostfildern, Germany; Board of Directors of Swiss Engineers and Architects Association (SIA), Reviewing Board for Clusters of Excellence of the DFG (German Research Foundation). Sacha’s research focuses on the future of building processes, the influences of economics in architecture and construction and on public space in the urban context. He has authored academic publications, Three Books on the Subject of Building Process, VDF Editors and Public Space Evolution in High-Density Living in Singapore and actively contributes in international conferences and architectural juries. Currently, he is co-leading the Dense and Green Building Typologies project in the Future Cities Laboratory at the Singapore-ETH Centre.