Philippe Block
Associate Professor
Department of Architecture
ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
Switzerland
Biography
Philippe Block is Associate Professor at the Institute of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich, where he co-directs the Block Research Group (BRG) together with Dr. Tom Van Mele. He is director of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Digital Fabrication, and founding partner of Ochsendorf DeJong & Block (ODB Engineering). Block studied architecture and structural engineering at the VUB, Belgium, and at MIT, USA, where he earned his PhD in 2009. Research at the BRG focuses on equilibrium analysis, computational form finding, optimisation and construction of curved surface structures, specialising in unreinforced masonry vaults and concrete shells. Within the NCCR, BRG researchers develop innovative structurally informed bespoke prefabrication strategies and novel construction paradigms employing digital and robotic fabrication. With BRG and ODB Engineering, Block applies his research into practice on the structural assessment of historic monuments and the design and engineering of novel compression structures.
Research Interest
Philippe Block research interest include: Architecture.
Publications
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Block P. and Lachauer L.Three-dimensional Equilibrium Analysis of Gothic Masonry Vaults,Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions,Wroclaw, Poland,2012 (10).
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Van Mele T., McInerney J., DeJong M. and Block P.Physical and Computational Discrete Modeling of Masonry Vault Collapse,Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions,Wroclaw, Poland,2012 (October).
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Van Mele T. and Block P.Algebraic Graph Statics,Computer-Aided Design,53: 104-116,2014.
