LÜTJENS PADMANABHAN - Zwhatt Sufficiency Project

School lecture series at EPFL Architecture
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
EPFL, Auditorium SG

This lecture is part of the lecture series "Housing and Reuse: Six Exemplary Projects"

The longitudinal building is designed as a pilot project on the topic of sufficiency. The residential structure was developed as an urban terraced house with maisonette lofts in four different sizes (S,M,L,XL). Its concise building shape links with the adjacent residential tower block and corner shop to form a memorable ensemble that promotes a sense of identity.”

Oliver Lütjens and Thomas Padmanabhan established Lütjens Padmanabhan Architects in 2007 in Zurich. The Zurich-based practice has been recognized nationally and internationally for its innovation in the field of affordable housing and for its joyful embrace of the expressive challenges of contemporary construction.

The practice’s works are diverse in scale and type, spanning three continents. Recent projects include the award-winning Waldmeisterweg low-cost Apartment Building in Zurich, the Zwhatt Sufficiency Housing Project in Regensdorf, the Unterfeld Lake Power Plant, the residential development Göbli in Baar, as well as the Residences for the Swiss Ambassadors in Algiers and Bogotà.

Oliver and Thomas have taught as assistants at ETH Zurich, and as guest professors at TU Munich, EPF Lausanne and Harvard GSD. They are currently guest professors at ETH Zurich.

00:00:00 Introduction by Pier Vittorio Aureli
00:05:25 Lecture by Oliver Lütjens and Thomas Padmanabhan
01:08:29 Q&A

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Housing Vol.2.
"Housing and Reuse: Six Exemplary Projects"

For the Spring 2025 Lecture Series, the School of Architecture at EPFL has invited six architecture offices to discuss housing and reuse through six exemplary projects. The lecture series will be complemented by the launch of Professor Charlotte Malterre-Barthes’s “A Moratorium on New Construction”.

Reuse of existing buildings is increasingly becoming a good practice. Yet, reuse is easier said than done. Within a capitalist society, buildings are produced as commodities and, as such, they are not meant to last. Moreover, what is at stake within reuse is not simply the reuse of buildings per se, but the whole process of building production behind each architectural project.

This lecture series explores projects of reuse in which former offices, factories, or houses are transformed or expanded as residential spaces. Each lecture focuses on one building in order to shed light not only on the advantages of reuse but also on its limits and challenges.