Heinz Isler Models
26 August – 24 September 2024
Symposium: 26 – 30 August 2024 (IASS)
Opening event and panel discussion: 27 August 2024, HIL E 3, 5.30 pm
ETH Zurich, Hönggerberg
Welcome by Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder
Introduction by Dr. Giulia Boller
Panel with Prof. Dr. John Chilton (University of Nottingham), Prof. Dr. Tullia Iori (University of Roma Tor Vergata), Em. Prof. Dr. Joseph Schwartz and Dr. Giulia Boller, moderated by Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder
“If you make an experiment, you have always a risk. That it does not work. And then […] you begin. Once. Twice. Three times. Fifteen times sometimes.” (Isler, 1994).
Heinz Isler Models exhibition focuses on the experimental methods of Swiss engineer Heinz Isler (1926-2009). It looks at his unconventional approach to the design of structures in reinforced concrete and fibre-reinforced polyester by featuring original documents from the gta Archive.
While engineers traditionally understand reality through mathematical constructions, Isler mastered his free-form shells by observing, comparing, and transforming multiple physical models in his office. The models were at the heart of his engineering practice. They helped him to go beyond the consolidated structural typologies, opening up endless possibilities of shell shapes. The model’s behaviour was carefully studied, at the different stages and scales, from the initial concept to form finding, to model testing, until the study of the building’s structural behaviour as a 1:1 physical model.
In the engineering community, Isler is acknowledged as one of the masters of physical form-finding techniques for the conceptual design of structures. His form-finding workshops, resembling magic shows, featured live demonstrations using simple objects. Though appearing as casual craftsmanship, these experiments were technical and directly influenced structural concepts. A wrong choice could lead to incorrect shapes and outcomes. Additionally, their spatial assembly followed a precise sequence of operations, as in any scientific investigation.
Isler’s established experimental procedure represents a lens through which it is possible to follow how structural engineers produced information in the recent past, at the interface between physical and digital methods for the design of structures. Indeed, even though Isler is acknowledged for his physical modelling techniques, his career took place during the generation shift between the physical and the computational approaches to structural design.
Curated by Dr. Giulia Boller, the exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Chair of Theory of Architecture, Block Research Group, gta Archive, and gta Exhibitions, with the support of the NCCR Digital Fabrication and the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS). It stems from Boller’s doctoral research, as part of a collaborative project between the Chair of Structural Design (Em. Prof. Dr. Joseph Schwartz) and the Chair of Theory of Architecture (Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder) at ETH Zurich, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) (2018-2022).
Heinz Isler Models is on display from August 26 to September 24, 2024, at ETH Hönggerberg, HIL D 57.1.
Curator
Dr. Giulia Boller
Collaborators
Medhat Elmhorsy
Su Huang
Antoine Liechti
Samuel Meury
Pedro Tosatto Siedel
Thanks to Raplab