New leadership in architecture

Professor Ortelli began his term as Institute Director in July 1, 2011. Ortelli arrived at EPFL in 1997. In the same year, he oversaw completion of the Palais Franscini, a unique project on the banks of the Ticino river that brought together five cultural institutions and housed the cantonal library and archives. On the EPFL campus, he splits his time between teaching and research, and takes evident pleasure in interacting with students. The students appreciate his dedication as well, awarding him the ENAC teaching prize in 2005 and 2007. Here’s a brief interview with this philosopher-architect.

How would you define this discipline?

An architect maintains a balance between three pillars: art, science and technique. But I consider architecture first of all as an intellectual endeavor and the academic environment is ideal for cultivating this aspect. Architecture theorizes, interprets and envisages that which has been, is and is yet to be. I would like for this to be a fundamental mission of teaching starting with the first year, because it has an undisputable social implication. It makes the invisible visible. But this way of looking at things could very well be endangered today. The pressure to globalize could threaten architectural diversity.

What was the most memorable moment of your career?

The Aebsicher revolution! The arrival of Patrick Aebischer at EPFL, the Bologna reforms and the creation of a new School that brought engineers and architects together under a single roof obliged me to redefine architecture in the polytechnical environment. Until then, we existed on an island apart, without real connections with the rest of EPFL, much as many architecture institutes still do around the world today. That pushed us into a new dimension of research. Since then, many connections have been created between various ENAC laboratories. Several research projects focusing on subjects such as concrete are being done. I have done research with Aurèle Parriaux from ENAC’s Engineering and Environmental Geology Laboratory on massive stone constructions.

What are the avenues that you would like to explore in your role as Director of the Institute of Architecture and the City?

I would like to create an avenue that doesn’t exist yet! Come up with research tools that would integrate all the parameters that are known, but that have been used up to now separately, such as historical research, architectural techniques, physics of buildings or even industrial engineering—to take an epistemological viewpoint. Among the major projects that I would like to undertake or reinforce are energy issues, which bring together several ENAC researchers. The issue of habitat, also, can be looked at on several levels. It’s first an ethical issue; I can’t help but think of the millions of people who are homeless, and I would like to undertake research in the area of low-tech housing. That would certainly allow us to provide solutions not only at the Swiss and European level, but also for developing countries.