(nst) The day finally arrived on the 26th of April: the foundation stone was laid for the student encounter centre in Bamiyan in Afghanistan, the planning and building of which is the result of the winning contribution, "Polynational", of the ETH Jubilee competition "Castles-in-the-air". The Departments of Architecture and Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering called for competition contributions at the end of 2003.
Originally, the winning project was designed to be played out as a kind of architectonic theatre on the Polyterrasse. But the winners–three architecture students, Ivica Brnic, Florian Graf and Wolfgang Rossbauer–turned their visionary castle-in-the-air idea into a vision of very real support. In Afghanistan, a country that desperately needs all kinds of aid for its reconstruction, an academic centre for encounter is to be built through which ETH can pass on its know-how and expertise, on the one hand, and simultaneously learn from local building traditions. With reference to the original idea, the dimensions of the building can be seen at present on the Polyterrace where the shape and size of the planned centre is exactly replicated.
"We are pleased that the 'ETH House of Science' building is taking on a concrete form," Mario Fontana, ETH Professor of Structural Engineering and Construction and member of the "Castle-in-the-air" project management tells "ETH Life". The team were now following an advanced plan to realise substantial parts of the building by the next ETH Day on 19th November.
