Call for Focus Works: Zurich in Section

For the past five years, as part of the Grundlagen course, first-year students have been strolling, measuring, and drawing about 10,738 metres of Zurich in Section, from the Uetliberg to Schwamendingen. A publication of this 100-metre-long drawing is in the making, for which we are looking for master students who are interested in delving into one of the many stories enclosed inside the living rooms, cellars, rooftops, garages, and tunnels encountered during the documentation. You will be given access to the thousands of fieldnotes, descriptions, sketches, photographs, and drawings made by your fellow students, and from this archive select a topic of your interest, carry out additional research, and develop it into a 3000-word scientific essay, supported by primary and secondary literature.

Drawing relations between topography and buildings, between infrastructure and social distribution, or between pre-modern landscape and man-made nature, topics can focus on a variety of fields, to name a few (but not to exclude others), from analysing the diversity of tree species in different parts of the city to relating the geomorphology of the city to income distribution, or from questioning the consistent use of sans-serif typography in streetscapes to elaborating on the anecdote of a caretaker of a water reservoir who, in the event of a power cut, has to cycle on an indoor bike to generate electricity.

Interested students, preferably those who have once participated in the first year exercise in previous years, can write to to express their interest.

Period: 6 months, January 2025, to July 2025
Application deadline: January 13, 2025 (early applications are welcomed)
Credits: 6 ECTS