ETH Materials Hub
Exhibition of materials accompanying the first year course of the Chair of Deplazes Design and Construction I/II
Exhibition Material Workshop 'Die keramische Fassade', Professur Spiro, 2016. Innovedum project 'Knowledge of Making', database
The ETH Materials Hub is the materials platform at ETH Zurich for teaching and research . This collaborative project between the Department of Architecture and ETH Library focuses on information and materials samples from the field of the built environment. Alongside the collaborative external page online materials database, in which ten other Swiss organisations participate, the ETH Materials Hub together with all of the media offerings of the Architecture and Civil Engineering Library, i.e. materials samples, technical literature, journals, films and other database offerings, comprise a comprehensive information repository on the subject of materials and the built environment.
Offering of the ETH Materials Hub
- Examples of materials and sample uses from wood, concrete, stone, clay, ceramics, glass, metal, plaster, limestone, bitumen, synthetics as well as plant-based building and construction materials and samples from the field of photovoltaics. These include both basic materials and processed or joined examples.
- Samples from teaching and research
- external page Online material database with data sets on materials, processes and constructions as well as application examples from the fields of architecture and art
- Information and documentation tool (beta version available on request). As part of the Innovedum project “Knowledge-of-Making”, a documentation and communication platform for production, processing and planning processes is being developed together with teaching and research. Two case studies are running in teaching, the university workshops and a metal foundry
Relevance for research and the general public
The ETH Materials Hub sees itself as a communicative knowledge platform that combines specialist knowledge from research and practice and makes the knowledge available for teaching. Production and processing processes are documented, discussed and documented for further use. This information can also be accessed by the general public.
Current activities, projects
- Focus on innovative wood materials (application of hardwood)
- Focus on 3D printing materials in architecture
- Focus on natural stone (collaboration with external page Natursteinverband Schweiz and Georesources Switzerland Group)
- Innovedum project “Knowledge-of-Making”: Development of a digital teaching platform
Use / online presence
- Online using the external page collaborative onlinematerials database
- The information on the physical materials samples available can be accessed via the RFID system in the Architecture and Civil Engineering Library at the H?nggerberg campus and directly from the database via QR codes.
- Materials samples can also be researched using external page ETH Library @ swisscovery.