ETH Zürich
Chair of Being Alive

celebration

Aerial view of a residential area with multi-story apartment blocks surrounded by trees, grass, and winding paths

New Website for the Garden of the XXI Century at ETH Hönggerberg

celebration

Portrait of a smiling woman with short gray hair outdoors among yellow flowering shrubs

Teresa Galí-Izard nominated for Schelling Architecture Prize

proposal

Text graphic reading "Senan: The garden of the XXI century." on a plain light gray background

Senan, the garden of the XXI century.

translation

Architectural drawing of Park Güell in Barcelona showing layered forest strata, soil profiles, and water-retention sections across July and December conditions, from an ETH Zurich student project

FS26: Cartographies of Living Systems

celebration

Final reviews HS24 klausenpass

12.17.2024 | Final Reviews, Garden of the XXI century: Klausenpass

celebration

Poster for the "Beyond Maintenance: Responsive Practices for Changing Landscapes" NSL Symposium at ETH Zurich, 26-28 February 2025, with hand-drawn purple lettering and a sketched cluster of blobs

Beyond Maintenance Colloquium Open Call

celebration

Terraced Mediterranean hillside with alternating strips of dry cropland, grassland, and shrubs and trees between stone walls

Publication | Article on the Garden of the XXI project in Senan

celebration

Event poster for the "Plantar un libro, escribir un árbol" lecture cycle on climate fiction and environmental literature, May and June 2024, with the schedule of talks

Plantar un libro, escribir un árbol

proposal

Monochrome chalk drawing of jagged mountain ridges by Tacita Dean, introducing the Switzerland at a Crossroads diploma project

HS 2024 | Master's Diploma in Architecture | Switzerland at a Crossroads

celebration

Poster for the Contact Grounds suburbia international edition lecture by Teresa Galí-Izard, "Thinking Suburbia from the Other Side," on 8 May 2024 at ETSAV, with an isometric line drawing of a suburban landscape.

08.05.2024 | Thinking Suburbia From the Other Side, Teresa Galì-Izard

celebration

Lecture card for "Garden of the XXI Century, Tiltil, Chile" by Carolina Acevedo and Cara Turett, ETH Zürich Chair of Being Alive

02-05-2024 | Garden of the XXI century, Tiltil, Chile: Carolina Acevedo + Cara Turett

celebration

Workshop poster for "Drawing Languages for Living Systems" by Bonnie Kate Walker, ETH Zürich Chair of Being Alive, featuring a black-and-white drawing of plant roots and soil layers filled with geometric patterns

Workshop: Being Alive Language at Washington University

proposal

Dry grassland with red-tipped stakes marking a planted or restoration area, with mountains and power lines in the background

FS24: Regenerative Practices for Exhausted Landscapes

proposal

Poster with text "Fall 2025 Slow Water: Exploring Keyline Design in Switzerland" on a solid purple background

HS 2025: Slow Water: Exploring Keyline Design in Switzerland

proposal

Geological cross-section drawings of six profiles through the Lägern mountain range in the eastern Jura, by Albert Heim, 1919

HS23 Foundation Studio I: The Garden of the XXI Century: Lägern Quarry

proposal

Seminar Week HS23 title card: "Following the Water on the Slopes of Banyalbufar in Mallorca"

HS23 Seminar Week: Following the Water on the Slopes of Banyalbufar in Mallorca.

translation

Three hand-drawn plants with red and uncolored leaves on a line of soil, with annotations explaining how crowding and root spread shape their growth.

FS23 Cartographies of Living Systems: Modified Trees

translation

Architectural diagram of branching, tree-like iterative growth with radiating lines, nodes, and shaded urban blocks, showing a layered spatial design process

FS23 Cartographies of Living Systems: Roots

proposal

Grasshopper plug-in menu structure showing the Being Alive soil, root, plant, climate, and info component categories and their subcomponents

BeingAliveLanguage: the Grasshopper Plug-in developed by the Chair of Being Alive

translation

Pencil drawing of a perennial plant's underground geophyte organ and rhizomes, showing how new shoots grow vertically from the soil surface in spring

FS23 Cartographies of Living Systems: Life Forms

source

Cover of the book Especies Vagabundas: ¿Una amenaza? showing a vintage engraving of two people in period dress standing among tall plumed grasses

Especies Vagabundas: ¿Una amenaza? Gilles Clément, Francis Hallé, François Letourneux, 2021.

source

Cover of *Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things* by Jane Bennett, featuring a gallery installation of loaves of bread scattered across the floor.

Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Jane Bennett, 2010.

translation

Hand-drawn blue ink map of a watershed over topographic contour lines, with branching drainage channels traced across the terrain

FS23 Cartographies of Living Systems: Watershed

source

Book cover of Leo Marx's "The Machine in the Garden," showing a vintage steam locomotive with the number 89

The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America. Leo Marx, 1964.

translation

Diagram of five modular Acer rubrum trees grown in dense forest conditions, with overlapping crown circles showing spacing

FS23 Cartographies of Living Systems: Drawing Trees

translation

Climate diagram of Fribourg, Switzerland, comparing 1991–2021 average precipitation and temperature with 2022 monthly values

FS23 Cartographies of Living Systems: Gaussen Diagram

proposal

Side-by-side soil cross-sections showing a capillary barrier layer, with and without planted grasses, to illustrate how vegetation affects salinity at depth.

HS22 Foundation Studio I: Translating Texcoco. Student translations and proposals.

source

Book cover of "Garden Flowers From Seed" by Christopher Lloyd and Graham Rice, showing blue sea holly and red flowers

Garden Flowers From Seed. Christopher Lloyd and Graham Rice, 1991.

source

Book cover for *The Road Back to Nature: Regaining the Paradise Lost* by Masanobu Fukuoka, with a portrait of a bearded older man

The Road Back to Nature. Masanobu Fukuoka, 1984.

source

A barge carrying a large tree across calm open water, towed by a small boat leaving a wake

Taming the Garden. Salomé Jashi, 2021.

celebration

BeingAliveLanguage: Visualizing soil information from a design perspective to enhance multidisciplinary communication. Zhao Ma and Teresa Galí-Izard, 2023.

source

Book cover of "Géographie des paysages" by Gabriel Rougerie, published by Presses Universitaires de France in the Que sais-je? series

Géographie des paysages. Gabriel Rougerie, 1969.

source

Book cover of "Être humains sur la terre" by Augustin Berque, published by Gallimard

Être humains sur la terre. Augustin Berque, 1996.

celebration

Exhibition poster for "The Garden of the XXI Century" at ZAZ Bellerive, showing architectural drawings of landscape-based urban farming and regenerative systems on a gallery wall

09.06 - 24.09.2023 | The Garden of the XXI Century. Exhibiton at ZAZ Bellerive Zürich.

source

Book cover of "Sylviculture 1: Principes d'éducation des forêts" by Jean-Philippe Schütz, showing stylized forest trees against an orange triangle

Sylviculture 1 et 2. Jean-Philippe Schütz.

celebration

Lecture poster for Pere Fraga's talk "Mutualisms: Interactions With Benefits," part of the FS23 lecture series

20.04.2023 | Pere Fraga. Mutualisms: Interactions With Benefits.

proposal

FS23 Cartographies of Living Systems: A Critical Approach course title card

FS23 Cartographies of Living Systems: A Critical Approach

proposal

FS23 Regenerative Practices for Exhausted Landscapes course title card

FS23 Regenerative Practices for Exhausted Landscapes

source

Book cover of "The Natural Way of Farming: The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy" by Masanobu Fukuoka

The Natural Way of Farming. Masanobu Fukuoka, 1985

proposal

Urban development map of the Furt Valley showing settlements, roads, and river, with marked gravel pit activation and old quarry burning sites

MScLA Diploma HS22: Adaptative infrastructures in the Furttvalley

celebration

Poster for the ETH MSc Landscape Architecture final master's thesis reviews "Landscapes of Adaptive Infrastructures in the Furttal," held December 12, 2022, with a photo of a hillside agricultural landscape

12.12.2022 | Final Review MScLA Diploma HS22: Adaptive Infrastructures in the Furttal

celebration

Poster for the inaugural lecture "Being Alive" by Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, featuring a colorful abstract urban plan on a green background, held 1 December 2022 at ETH Zürich Zentrum

01.12.2022 | Being Alive. Inaugural Lecture Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard.

proposal

Aerial view of a green urban area with paved paths, grassy slopes, young trees, and residential buildings along a road

New Garden of the XXI century in Hönggerberg!

celebration

Event poster for the Episode talk "Empatia" with Teresa Galí-Izard and Paola Viganò, 16 November 2022

16.11.2022 | Empatia. Teresa Galí Izard & Paola Viganò. Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès.

celebration

Lecture poster for Antoine Picon's HS22 talk "Nature and Engineering: The Park of the Buttes-Chaumont"

21.11.2022 | Antoine Picon. Nature and Engineering: The Park of the Buttes-Chaumont.

celebration

Event poster for the 14th edition of "Incontri con il paesaggio" lecture by Professor Teresa Galí-Izard, "To Be a Gardener," on November 17, 2022

17.11.2022 | To be a gardener. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard at Incontri con il paesaggio, Politecnico di Torino.

celebration

Three people in a wooded area use metal soil probes and a spade to take soil samples from the forest floor.

Understanding a Place by Looking at its Soil, NSL Newsletter.

source

Book cover of "Écoumène: Introduction à l'étude des milieux humains" by Augustin Berque, published by Belin in the Mappemonde series

Écoumène: Introduction à l'étude des milieux humains. Augustin Berque, 2000.

proposal

Text graphic on a purple background reading "MScLA Foundation Studio I HS22 Translating Texcoco: Designing with Soil in Mexico City."

Translating Texcoco: Designing with Soil in Mexico City. MScLA Foundation Studio I HS22

translation

Climate graph for Mexico City showing monthly temperature as a solid line and monthly precipitation as a dashed line, with rainfall peaking in summer

Ciudad de México Gaussen

source

Köppen-Geiger climate classification world map showing climate zones by color, with large desert regions in red across North Africa, the Middle East, and Australia

Climate Classification Map. Köppen-Geigger.

source

Book cover of Watsuji Tetsuro's "A Climate: A Philosophical Study," translated by Geoffrey Bownas, with blue lettering and a red arc on a gray background

A Climate. A Philosophical Study. Tetsuro Watsuji, 1961.

celebration

Book cover for Designing Landscape Architectural Education: Studio Ecologies for Unpredictable Futures, with collaged images of Earth's climate systems and ecosystems

A Conversation About Language. Teresa Galí-Izard, Luke Harris, Cara Turett and Bonnie Kate Walker.

celebration

Poster for Teresa Galí-Izard's guest lecture at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, October 18, 2022

18.10.2022 | (RE)Acting/(EN)Acting: New Approaches in Landscape Architecture. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, Oslo School of Architecture.

translation

Climate chart for Tiltil, Chile showing monthly temperatures and rainfall, with rainfall peaking in June and temperatures highest in January

Tiltil Gaussen

celebration

Flyer for the Jardín del Siglo XXI garden event in Tiltil, Chile, on July 27, invited by ETH Zürich and the Tiltil municipality, over a black-and-white photo of plant roots

27.07.2022 | Te invitamos a conocer y ser parte del Jardín del Siglo XXI en Tiltil, Chile.

celebration

Finalists 2022 graphic for the European Prize for Urban Public Space

The European Prize for Urban Public Space 2022 announces the 5 finalist works.

celebration

Urban boulevard with tree-lined plaza, wooden benches, and cyclists on a protected bike lane

Design as an Answer to Values and Ethics. Interview with Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, NSL.

celebration

Event poster for Fieldwork Week at Cima Città in Valle di Blenio, Ticino, showing a person upside down in a dug hole with legs sticking out, beside shovels and a mound of soil

15-19.08.2022 | FIELDWORK WEEK in Cima Città. Join us!

celebration

Nested circles showing birding as an inner practice of attuning, noticing, and caring, set within a wider landscape thinking perspective.

Cultivating more-than-human care: Exploring bird watching as a landscaping practice. Johanna Just, 2022.

celebration

Poster for the 16th Baukultursymposium "Kooperation Land und Stadt" on July 6, 2022, in Hannover, over a grayscale aerial map of a town and its surrounding countryside

06.07.2022 | Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard at the 16 Baukultursymposium: Kooperation Land und Stadt

source

Line drawing comparing colonial plant architectures: a clonal grass colony spreading in rings, a shrub with radiating stems, and a large tropical tree with spreading branches.

Éloge de la plante. Francis Hallé, 1999.

translation

Diagram of three crop rotation options derived from a perennial cool pasture, showing plant mixtures, root systems, and undisturbed growth rate curves across the year

FS22 Waters of Roman Soil | Exercise 2: Rule-based Design.

proposal

Architectural drawing showing a phased planting and path plan for a terraced hillside village, with an isometric site model of the existing settlement below

FS22 Waters of Roman Soil | Student Projects.

source

Colored site plan of a proposed urban park with paths, planting areas, and circular plazas overlaid on a grey city street map

The Fields Around Us. Proposal for the Central Park of Valencia, Spain.

source

Isometric diagram of two plants placed on grid-based planting modules, with curved arcs showing a plant's natural range along climatic parameters

The Living Things Nursery Catalogue and Guide to Climate

translation

Walter-Lieth-style climate diagram for Blanes (Girona), Spain, showing monthly temperature and precipitation: mild temperatures peaking in summer and rainfall peaking in autumn and spring

Blanes Gaussen

proposal

Diagram of a regenerative agroforestry system showing biomass yields, hugelkultur bed construction, and biochar material flows over a 12-year cycle.

FS22 Regenerative Landscapes: Rule-based Design | Student Projects.

source

Multi-panel chart showing predicted species richness of 14 taxa (bats, birds, bryophytes, carabids, fungi, lichens, moths, and others) across scaled Index of Biodiversity Potential scores, by forest type

Index of Biodiversity Potential (IBP): for estimating the potential of forest stands for biodiversity.

translation

Overlay map of climate, slope, and vegetation data layers with a grid of circular markers, labeled "Ex. 1 Overlap: Climate + Slopes + Vegetation"

FS22 Waters of Roman Soil | Exercise 1: Overlapping Languages.

celebration

Poster announcing the MSCLA FS22 Foundation Studio II "Waters of Roman Soil" final review on 01.06, 10:00-16:00 in HIL F65

01.06.2022 | FS22 Waters of Roman Soil: Final Review

celebration

Page from the 2022 Marimurtra Botanical Garden activity guide in Catalan, listing workshops, talks, snorkelling and guided tours by date

17.06.2022 | Cuidar i descuidar: el jardí del segle XXI. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, Marimurtra Botanical Garden, Blanes.

celebration

BK Talks poster for "Here, There and Everywhere," a panel on worldwide landscape architecture education on May 3rd at BK TU Delft, with moderators and panelists listed

03.05.2022 | BK Talks 'Landscape Architecture - Here, there and everywhere'. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, TU Delft.

celebration

Three people picnicking on a yellow blanket in a grassy field while horses and ponies graze nearby behind a wire fence

Arrival of horses and ponies to the Garden of the XXI century in Senan!

source

Book cover of "Les Racines: Face cachée des arbres," showing a watercolor tree whose extensive roots spread through the soil, with a small figure standing among them

Les Racines. Christophe Drénou, 2006.

source

Diagram of a woody tree's taproot system, showing how each root type anchors, explores, colonizes, and absorbs water and nutrients.

La racine et le système racinaire des arbres. Claire Atger, 2011.

source

News article screenshot with the headline "Scientists' egos are key barrier to progress, says Covid vaccine pioneer," above a mural of a woman with glasses

Scientists’ egos are key barrier to progress, says Covid vaccine pioneer Prof. Katalin Karikó

celebration

Lecture series title card reading "Regenerative Landscapes: Ruled-based Design. FS22 Lectures Agriculture DE NON-Agri" on an orange background

05.05.2022 | Agriculture de Non-Agir. François Léger, Teresa Galí-Izard.

celebration

Text poster reading "Regenerative Landscapes: Ruled-based Design. FS22 Lectures: Keep it living." on an orange background

17.03.2022 | Keep it Living. Tessa Peters, Bonnie-Kate Walker.

source

A bare tree hanging from a crane cable against a bright blue sky, with a sun flare and campus buildings below

The day trees flew over Hönggerberg.

celebration

Cover of OASE 110, Journal for Architecture, with the large letters of the title formed by horizontal lines on a pale grey background

We, the roots among you. Teresa Galí-Izard, Bonnie-Kate Walker, Cara Turett, Luke Harris. OASE #110, 2022.

proposal

MScLA Foundation Studio II FS22 thumbnail with the project title "Waters of Roman Soil"

Waters of Roman Soil: MScLA Foundation Studio II FS22

celebration

More Than Human Cinema spring 2022 film series poster listing screenings by ETH Zurich chairs, with a grey X-ray photograph of plants in the background

28.03.2022 | Honeyland. More Than Human Cinema FS22

proposal

Title card reading "FS22 Regenerative Landscapes: Rule-Based Design" on a purple background

Regenerative Landscapes: Rule-Based Design FS22

celebration

The #PublicSpacePrize22 is a biennial competition that, since 2000, has recognised the creation, recovery, and improvement of public spaces as a clear indicator of the democratic health of cities.

Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, president of the Jury of the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2022

source

Book cover for *The Man Who Planted Trees* by Jean Giono, with a black-and-white woodcut of a man sorting seeds in his palm.

L'homme qui plantait des arbres, Jean Giono, 1953

celebration

Poster for "Under the Landscape," a five-week participatory craft apprenticeship and workshop on Therasia, Greece, in 2021–22

26-29.06.2022 | Symposium Under the Landscape. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, Therasia and Santorini, Greece.

celebration

Schedule poster for the Opening Day of the Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design, held 14 February 2022 at ETH Hönggerberg, listing the program from arrival through course presentations.

14.02.2022 | Opening Day. Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design. ETHZ-EPFL

celebration

27.01.2022 | LUS Research Colloquium: Tracing Common Ground

proposal

Historical map of ancient Rome's central districts showing the Tiber River, marshes (palus), and numbered sites such as the Vatican, Aventine, and Palatine-adjacent hills

Cartographies of Living Systems: Rome's Aqueducts

translation

Collection of student botanical drawings comparing root systems and growth cycles of perennial and annual plants, showing rhizomes, root networks, and seasonal regrowth.

Cartographies of Living Systems FS21: Perennials

source

Hand-colored 19th-century geological map of a volcanic region with a coastline, showing rock formations and volcanic cones

Geological Map of the Roman Countryside. Ponzi, G., 1880

translation

Walther-style climate diagram for Rome, Italy, showing monthly temperature and precipitation: temperatures peak in July, while rainfall peaks in November and is lowest in July

Rome Gaussen

source

Book cover of "The Waters of Rome: Aqueducts, Fountains, and the Birth of the Baroque City" by Katherine Wentworth Rinne, showing an 18th-century painting of the Spanish Steps with crowds and a fountain in the foreground

Waters of Rome. Katherine Wentworth Rinne

source

Jacques Simon seated outdoors in a straw hat, holding a notebook with the handwritten French phrase "toujours à la recherche de nouvelles formes d'expression" ("always searching for new forms of expression").

Jacques Simon

celebration

UTSOA Fall '21 poster listing lectures, exhibitions, and symposia, including the Galí-Izard lecture

08.11.2021 | Connecting Dots. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, University of Texas at Austin

source

Cover of the FAO 2020 policy maker summary "State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity," showing a circle of soil organisms above a soil surface with silhouetted figures, and partner logos

FAO State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity, 2020

source

Axonometric diagram of a polyfarming landscape plan, with a polygonal field mosaic, a central farm complex with crop rows and a farmhouse, and a grid of tree groves and tilled plots extending across the site.

LIFE Polyfarming Planeses

source

Diagram of Raunkiaer's plant life-form types, showing nine plants from tall trees to submerged aquatics, arranged to illustrate how buds are progressively better protected from the unfavourable season.

Plant Life Forms. C, Raunkiaer, 1937

proposal

This is a seminar poster for "The gardeners of the XXI century," announcing a fieldwork week in Senan, Spain, with a photo of a pine woodland with tall trunks and dense shrubs beneath.

The gardeners of the XXI century. Seminar HS21.

celebration

Poster for the Lucerne Talks symposium "Drawing in Architecture Education and Research," showing a large yellow pencil graphic with speaker names and event details on Friday 22.10.2021 in Horw.

22.10.2021 | Lucerne Talks: Drawing in Architecture Education and Research. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, Hochschule Luzern

translation

Climate diagram for Granada, Spain showing average temperature and precipitation by month, with the duration and intensity of the summer drought highlighted

Gaussen Language

source

Book cover of "La vegetació dels Països Catalans" by Ramon Folch i Guillén, decorated with green botanical line drawings of plants and grasses

La vegetació dels Països Catalans, Folch i Guillèn, 1981

translation

Climate chart for Senan, Tarragona, Spain showing monthly temperature and rainfall

Senan Gaussen

proposal

Hand-drawn diagram and collage of soil classification notes, triangular tessellation patterns, and a conceptual sketch of a funnel-shaped model linking climate, growth, and soil potential

Drawing Languages

translation

Cadastral map of Senan showing forested areas (hatched) and the village's municipal boundary

Evolution of the forest in Senan

celebration

Title slide reading "The Garden of the XXI Century" by Teresa Gali-Izard, presentation to the municipality

04.07.2021 | The garden of the XXI century Senan: Presentation to the municipality.

proposal

Isometric architectural axonometric drawing of a collaborative garden with greenhouses, planting beds, a central pathway, a row of long sheltered buildings, and a dense forest backdrop

The garden of the XXI century

source

Planting, watering and waiting

Planting, Watering and Waiting.

celebration

Line drawing portrait of a smiling woman with short, wavy hair

Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard

translation

Wireframe diagram of a leaf-shaped surface showing a branching tree pattern in the upper section and parallel curved grid lines below, generated algorithmically

Tree Language v2: Algorithmic Translation

celebration

Event poster for a lecture by Teresa Galí-Izard, "The Garden of the XXI Century," at Università Roma Tre, with an isometric landscape design drawing

04.06.2021 | The garden of the XXI century. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, Università Roma Tre

proposal

Map of Switzerland showing land use, road and rail networks, and lakes, with urban areas highlighted in red and forested or green areas in green

FS21 Productive Partnerships. Exercise 1: Applying Arles in Zurich

translation

Cross-section diagram of Mark Shepard's New Forest Farm agroforestry system showing tree layers, sunlight, rainfall, and soil interactions

FS21 Productive Partnerships Exercise 2: Drawing Strategies from Regenerative Agriculture

celebration

FS21 Final Review for Foundation Studio II: Productive Partnerships

03.06.2021 | FS21 Productive Partnerships: Final Review.

proposal

Circular diagram of a year-round fish and rice farming cycle, with rings for fish belt, terraces, ducks, and city activities mapped to the seasons.

FS21 Productive Partnerships | Student Projects

translation

Six colorful booklets fanned out on a white surface, each titled for a different farming system: agroforestry, grasslands and rotational grazing, intensive vegetable production, orchards and vineyards, no-till and crop rotation, and polycultural systems.

FS21 Productive Partnerships: Research Dossiers

celebration

Pencil sketch portrait of Johanna Just smiling, with bangs and long straight hair

Johanna Just

celebration

Hand-drawn ecological site survey map of a forest plot, with labeled vegetation patches, tree positions, and notes on ground cover.

Reading a Forest, Documenting the Existing, NSL

translation

Branching tree-like diagram radiating outward from a central point within a hexagonal triangular grid, drawn in black lines on white.

Roots Language v2: Algorithmic Translation

translation

Hand-drawn ink and pencil diagram of two tree-like root networks, each marked "CROWN," with their branches spreading over a grid of hatched red and blue blocks.

Cartographies of Living Systems FS21: Roots

translation

Hand-drawn diagram of a European beech tree grown in a forest, showing its tall, narrow crown reaching toward light while lower branches have died from shade, with neighboring trees beside it

Cartographies of Living Systems FS21: Drawing Trees

source

Gridded field map recording plant species and vegetation patches, as used in the Braun-Blanquet method

Braun-Blanquet method

celebration

Red line-drawing illustration of a garden plan with stippled trees, wavy paths, and small human figures tending plants

The gardener of the XXI century, CCCB Public Space

celebration

Event poster for "Charting the Alive," a May 13, 2021 online event with Mathur/Da Cunha, Jean-Marc Besse, and Emanuele Coccia, featuring an antique engraved map of a circular world.

13.05.2021 | Charting the Alive. Chair of Being Alive, Università Roma Tre

translation

Technical drawing of two pollarded trees with radiating branch structures, shown in front of overlapping circular outlines and ground-level grid lines

Cartographies of Living Systems FS21: Modified Trees

translation

Left: a large tiled pattern of triangles in varying shading, with white and hatched triangles forming clusters; right: a Grasshopper visual programming screenshot with three sliders labeled Sand, Silt, and Clay set to 0.70, 0.12, and 0.10.

Soil Language v2: Algorithmic Translation

celebration

Black-and-white line drawing portrait of a smiling person wearing glasses and a collared shirt.

Carolina Acevedo

celebration

An elderly woman with white hair and glasses in a red jacket reads through a stack of papers and folders on a wooden table in a room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking trees

Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, member of the Oberlander Prize Jury

proposal

MScLA Foundation Studio II FS21: Productive Partnerships.

MScLA Foundation Studio II FS21: Productive Partnerships.

celebration

Poster for the 2021 ETH-SEU PhD Workshop and Forum, held online from 23 to 25 April 2021, organized by Southeast University's SEU ARCH and ETH Zurich under the theme "Environmental Care and Creativity"

23.04.2021 | ETH-SEU PhD Workshop and Forum. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard

translation

Watershed boundary and drainage network map over a topographic contour background

Watershed Language v1: Manual Translation

translation

Hand-drawn watershed map of the Poblet monastery area in Spain, showing the monastery's catchment and an additional watershed draining to the village of L'Espluga de Francolí

Cartographies of Living Systems FS21: Watersheds

translation

Twelve climate graphs (Gaussen diagrams) of cities across Europe and Asia, showing monthly temperature and precipitation curves for each location.

FS21 Cartographies of Living Systems: Gaussen diagram

source

Book cover of The Dry Gardening Handbook by Olivier Filippi, showing drought-tolerant plants with silver foliage, purple flowers, and yellow blooms

The Dry Gardening Handbook: Plants and practices for a changing climate. Olivier Filippi, 2019

celebration

Rapperswiler Tag 2021. Poster.

12.03.2021 | Complex Resurgences. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, Rapperswiler Tag 2021

proposal

Cover graphic for the FS21 course "Cartographies of Living Systems: A critical approach."

Cartographies of Living Systems: A critical approach.

translation

Diagram key showing how a perennial plant's stems, leaves, roots, reproductive strategy, organ of resistance, and clonal growth are represented

Perennials Language v1: Manual translation

source

Book cover of "Wurzelatlas mitteleuropäischer Waldbäume und Sträucher" by Lore Kutschera and Erwin Lichtenegger, showing a detailed root-system drawing beneath a tree

Wurzelatlas. Lore Kutschera, Erwin Lichtenegger, 2002.

proposal

Solid purple background with the text "FS21 Urban Systems." in dark purple

Urban Systems 21FS

translation

Line drawing of a stylized tree with branches ending in leaf shapes, set in front of a circular, leaf-like outline above a ground line

Tree Language v1: Manual Translation

translation

Radial tree diagram of branching roots, with thick central branches fanning out into finer, dashed outer branches

Roots Language v1: Manual Translation

celebration

Black-and-white line drawing of a smiling man with swept-back hair and stubble

Stefan Breit

celebration

Pencil sketch of a woman with her hair pulled back, resting her hand on her cheek as she looks thoughtfully to the side

Zhao Ma

celebration

Poster for the Daniels Faculty lecture by Teresa Galí-Izard, "Landscape Landscape Urbanism," held 23 November 2020, with a purple grid of orange squares forming an abstract pattern

23.11.2020 | Landscape Landscape Urbanism. Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, University of Toronto

proposal

Seminar poster for "Being Tree with Francis Hallé," framed by a detailed ink drawing of a layered forest with labeled tree species.

Being Tree. Seminar HS20

celebration

Line drawing portrait of a smiling young woman with long, wavy hair

Uxía Varela

source

Black-and-white map of Arles, France, with radial street-network diagrams overlaid on the city's districts, illustrating a radial urban rule

Landscape Landscape Urbanism: Arles as a model.

translation

Ternary diagram showing how soil texture, organic matter, pH, and cation exchange capacity relate to plant-available soil water, with wilting point, field capacity, and saturation marked

Soil Language v1: Manual Translation

source

Chart of Francis Hallé's architectural models of tree growth, with twenty-four labeled tree forms drawn as branching diagrams showing flowering and fruiting patterns.

Francis Hallé

proposal

Purple thumbnail with text reading "Foundation Studio I Module 3 HS20: Drawing Soil."

Foundation Studio I Module 3 HS20: Drawing Soil

translation

Foundation Studio I Module 3 HS20: Drawing Soil. Student Drawings

source

Color profiles of representative soil types from the Great Soil Groups, shown as vertical columns of soil layers from surface to depth, from the Atlas of American Agriculture

Foundation Studio I Module 3 HS20: Soil References

proposal

Text graphic reading "Foundation Studio I Modules 4 + 5 HS20: Ecology and Plant Sciences" on a purple background

Foundation Studio I Modules 4 & 5 HS20: Ecology and Plant Sciences

celebration

Pencil sketch portrait of a smiling person with short, tousled hair

Bonnie-Kate Walker

celebration

Pencil sketch portrait of Shen He with short tousled hair, looking forward in a plain top

Shen He

celebration

Line drawing portrait of Cara Turett smiling, with long wavy hair

Cara Turett

celebration

Black-and-white line drawing portrait of Luke Harris

Luke Harris

celebration

Line drawing portrait of Claudia Janz

Claudia Janz

We seek to translate the hidden potential of places and pursue a new relationship between living creatures, humans among them. This methodology seeks to understand climate and geology — their performance, constraints and gifts — as the foundation for learning from the primary matter of landscapes over time, and generate new potentials for more alive, integrated and evolving landscapes in the present and future.

© 2025 ETH Chair of Being Alive.

Address:
ETH Zürich
Chair of Being Alive
ONA J 25
Neunbrunnenstrasse 50
CH - 8093 Zürich

Typefaces:
Source (Paul D. Hunt), Parat (Linda Hintz)

Design and code:
Studio Matthias Wyler