Archive · October 2026
Subsidy, not tax: what the 2023 climate vote changed in Swiss boiler rooms
Three years after the 2023 vote: heat pumps rose from 17% to 25% of Swiss buildings, and year one of the Impulsprogramm used about 90% of its funds.
Aerogels: The Frozen Smoke That Gives a Zurich Wall Its Square Metres Back
Aerogel insulates better than still air. How nano-pores stop heat, where Swiss facades use it, and a short Python check for the floor area it gives back.
Gigon/Guyer in 2026: a Rotkreuz school win and a handbook that publishes the method
Gigon/Guyer won the Kantonsschule Rotkreuz competition in 2026 and published its CO2 handbook. Why a written competition method is what a practice repeats.
Ten Minutes in Rhino 8's ScriptEditor: Your First Python Point, Line and Circle
Open Rhino 8's ScriptEditor, import rhinoscriptsyntax and draw a point, a line and a circle in Python — eight steps from McNeel's own developer guides.
Rock That Microbes Build: ETH's Karen Antorveza Paez Grows Facade Elements Without a Kiln
ETH's Karen Antorveza Paez grows sand into a 30×20×20 cm facade element with bacteria at room temperature. Here are the MPa figures, the ammonium cost and a Hack.
The Humanoid With a Plan for Falling: Qualcomm's Computex Moment and How to Land Soft
A Qualcomm-powered humanoid fell at Computex 2026. SafeFall research shows how robots land soft, and why architects should design the failure mode first.
The Sun Is a Zoning Rule You Can Compute: Knowles' Envelope and Zürich's Three-Hour Shadow
Ralph Knowles' solar envelope and Zürich's ABV § 30 shadow rule share one inequality. Carve the hull, test the tower, loft it in Grasshopper + Rhino.
PAZ-RIA: Two Programs, One Archicad Project, and What Our Second PAZ-Rhino Live Showed
PAZ-RIA runs Rhino and Grasshopper inside Archicad: native beams that update on every run instead of piling up copies. Coming to PAZ-BOX as an add-on.
Additive Manufacturing in Space: When the Wall Holds Air, Not Weight
Printing in orbit and on the Moon flips the load case: the shell shields, a liner holds the air. A foundation essay with a Grasshopper Python check.
Python for Architects: Where to Start, and Where a Coin Toss Says Stop
A Tesla stock tutorial scores 0.573 ROC-AUC, close to a coin toss. What that teaches architects about Python, scikit-learn and knowing when to stop.
