EPFL pays homage to Prof. Martin Steinmann
Martin Steinmann. © Bernard Zurbuchen
Honorary Professor Martin Steinmann passed away on 10 March 2022. He served as a professor of architecture theory and project design at ENAC from 1987 to 2007.
Prof. Steinmann, born in 1942, obtained an architecture degree from ETH Zurich in 1967 and a PhD in 1978, completing his thesis on the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM).
He taught for several years at MIT, the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich before being appointed professor of architecture theory and project design at ENAC in 1987, where he remained until 2007.
His teaching at ENAC was focused in particular on urban residential architecture. He supervised more than 200 Master’s projects and numerous PhD theses, and he took on management positions including head of the department of architecture and chair of the teaching committee.
Prof. Steinmann made a notable contribution to architecture theory. He was editor of Archithèse magazine from 1979 to 1986, and he authored a number of studies and designed many exhibitions, primarily on the topic of 20th century architecture. The writings that he published in Matières magazine and Forme Forte: Ecrits 1972-2002 remain important references to this day. He won the Schelling Architecture Award in 2000 and the Prix Meret Oppenheim in 2016.
Prof. Steinmann was a prominent figure at our School and an inspiration to all the professors and students who had the good fortune to work with him.
Bruno Marchand
Honorary professor, ENAC-EPFL
Dieter Dietz
Head of the Architecture Section, ENAC-EPFL
Jeffrey Huang
Director of the Institute of Architecture, ENAC-EPFL
Laure Kochnitzky Palluel
Architecture section deputy, ENAC-EPFL