Janus Lafontaine Carboni (they/them)
is an architect, educator, researcher and activist advocating for epistemic and social justice in architecture and the built environment. Their research investigates politics and infrastructures of architectural history (subaltern epistemology, chronopolitics, repertoires and archives), historiographies of the flesh, oral and embodied epistemologies, reenactments, and queer performativity. They currently work at ALICE, EPFL, and in the Chair of Architectural Heritage and Sustainability, ETHZ.
Writing is their main practice, and they have been published in several books and journals as Architecture and Culture, Charrette, Plan Libre, L’atelier, GTA Papers and Tabula Rasa. They edited the book Unearthing Traces, Dismantling the imperialist entanglements of archives, landscapes and the built environment (PPUR, 2023) with Denise Bertschi and Nitin Bathla. Read more on their website januslafontainecarboni.com.
Janus teaches at undergraduate, graduate and doctoral level in the format of studios, seminars and workshops, and has been tutoring Master thesis since 2020. In their pedagogies, they try to follow radical queer and decolonial perspective opened up by Paulo Freire, Audre Lorde, Mary Louise Pratt and Gayatri Spivak. They have been engaged in institutional activism in the DRAGlab since 2020, advocating for more inclusive curricula by introducing and supporting anti-racist, feminist and queer theories and practices.
Martina Diaz (she/her)
is an architect and specialist in digital survey and dating activities for architecture heritage. She earned a MSc in Architecture, curriculum Restoration at the University of Cagliari in 2015. Between 2015 and 2016 she collaborated with the University and the Municipality of Cagliari for the new plan for the historical center of the city. In 2016 she researched on adaptive re-use of historical Sardinian former prisons at the Department of Architecture in Cagliari.
In 2017 Martina started researching at the Institute of Building Archaeology and Construction History of ETH Zurich. In 2022, she completed her doctoral dissertation on the medieval timber domes of the St Anthony Basilica in Padua as part of the SNF-funded project The Basilica of Sant' Antonio at Padua – Deciphering the building history of a landmark pilgrimage church. Since 2022 she is member of the Chair for Architectural Heritage and Sustainability.
Angelika Hinterbrandner (she/her)
is working in a variety of formats and collaborations within and beyond the field of architecture. Her current research focuses on the political and legislative framework of the financialization of housing and the implications of the climate crisis on the built environment.
She worked with ARCH+ and Brandlhuber+/bplus.xyz, among others, on the topics of land politics, smart city and neoliberal planning policies. Since 2019 she is part of Kontextur @kntxtr. Since 2021 she is researching and teaching at the ETH Zurich, currently at the Chair of Architecture Heritage and Sustainability.
Together with five other actors from the fields of architecture, urbanism, research and communication, she co-initiated spaceforfuture.org in 2022. Currently, she serves as a research associate specializing in Housing and Construction Policy at the German Bundestag for the MP Kassem Taher Saleh.
Mariam Issoufou (she/her)
is an architect from Niger. She studied architecture at the University of Washington. In 2014, she founded Mariam Issoufou Architects an architecture and research practice that tackles public, cultural, residential, commercial and urban design projects. The firm is headquarted in Niamey, with a design studio in New York. Issoufou believes that architects have an important role to play in creating spaces that elevate, give dignity, and provide people with a better quality of life.
The firm’s completed projects include the Hikma Community Complex, a library and mosque complex, which won two Global LafargeHolcim Awards for sustainable architecture. Other works include the Niamey 2000 Housing project, a response to Niger’s housing crisis which was shortlisted for the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Upcoming projects include the Yantala Office building in Niger, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development in Liberia. The firm has been on the AD100 list since 2021.
Issoufou is a professor of Architecture Heritage and Sustainability at ETH Zurich. She has occupied academic roles as adjunct associate professor of Urban Studies at Brown University and as the 2021 Aga Khan critic at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Issoufou is on the board of the African Futures Institute (AFI) in Ghana. She is also an advisory board member for German non-profit, Diversity In Architecture. Issoufou is a 2019 Laureate of the Prince Claus Award. She was named as one of 15 Creative Women of Our Time by the New York Times.
Soukaina Laabida (she/her)
is a Moroccan architect. Her interest in architecture grew by experiencing the modern architecture of the metropolis of Casablanca in her daily life. She moved to France for her studies in 2010. In 2016, she graduated with a Diplôme d’Etat d’Architecture at École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Clermont-Ferrand in France, and got licenced as an architect by l’École d'architecture de la ville & des territoires Paris-Est in 2022. Throughout her studies, she did several immersions in german speaking countries, through exchange semesters and internships in Austria , Germany, and Switzerland .
After her diploma, she researched for 10 months on a trip from France to China, to document rural housing typologies along 10 countries, and published articles in the local newspaper La Montagne .
She lives in Switzerland since 2017, where she gained experience in several architecture offices. In 2021 she won the Europan 16 Living Cities competition, on the site of Biel/Bienne, at the crossing of urban design, working with the existing, and territorial storytelling for the densification of a 100% cooperative-operated housing district. She works at the cooperative :mlzd Architekten in Biel/Bienne, and as a scientific assistant at the Chair for Architectural Heritage and Sustainability.
Neo Maditla (she/her)
Neo Maditla is a South African journalist, researcher, communications strategist and editor with 15 years of experience in news media covering environmental and social issues, literature, art, and design. She leads communications and research at Mariam Issoufou Architects. She also works, part-time, as a research assistant in the chair for Architectural Heritage and Sustainability.
Her interests lie at the intersection of design, culture and social justice. In 2016, she co-founded Collective Media Cooperative, a coop advocating for media workers to get a fairer share of the value created through their work. Her journalism has appeared in publications and publishing platforms including CNN, AIGA Eye on Design, The Africa Report, Dwell, Marie Claire, New Frame, Futuress, among others. She is the co-editor of arts publication, TSA’s Collector’s Series: Artists and Cities, a hybrid publication that spotlights 60 artists and collectives from six African countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Morocco.
As editor-in-chief of Design Indaba in Cape Town – a platform and conference promoting a better world through creativity – Neo was part of a team that organized an annual conference that brought together designers, architects, and artists from across Africa and the rest of the world.
Alexander Cyrus Poulikakos (he/him)
is a Swiss architect based in Zurich. He completed his studies with a master’s degree in architecture in 2019 from ETH. After gaining his first experience at Studio Anne Holtrop in Bahrain, he joined BS+EMI architects in Zurich in 2020 as a co-project leader on the cooperative housing project Riedacker.
During this time, he founded the design and research practice Office Bab Al Morpheus, which focuses on documenting and mapping contemporary space in a globalized world through its margins. He is the author of the book “Resurrecting Babylon”, a portrait of the contemporary urban landscape in the Arabian Gulf Region and part of an ongoing project citing cities in the SWANA region. His texts have been published by Trans Magazine and Saqi Books and his works have been exhibited at gta Exhibitions, Museum für Gestaltung Zurich and Espacio Gallery London. Alexander’s spatial practice is expressed through text, building, assembling, weaving and images. In 2024 Alexander joined the Chair for Architectural Heritage and Sustainability of Prof. Mariam Issoufou as a teaching assistant.
Tobia Rapelli (he/him)
was born in Mendrisio and studied architecture at the ETH Zurich and KTH Stockholm. He gained architectural experience at Meili, Peter Architekten in Zurich. After his free diploma on alternatives to the demolition of building stock and the transformation of office buildings at the chair of Tom Emerson he founded his own practice CRRA Studio together with Lucio Crignola where they developed the topic further.
Since 2019 CRRA Studio works on diverse projects in different regional contexts in Switzerland, focusing on sustainable construction techniques, reuse, and refurbishment of the existing. His interest in transforming instead of erasing is the main motivation for participating in the collective actions of ZAS*.
Parallel to his practice Tobia engages in teaching since 2020. He was teaching assistant at the Chair for Architecture and Construction Prof. Annette Spiro and joined the Chair for Architectural Heritage and Sustainability of Prof. Mariam Issoufou in 2022.
Filippo Santoni (he/him)
is an architect dedicated to improving society through design. He believes that architecture should be a tool to improve everyday life, promoting a shared logic that enriches living spaces.
He studied architecture at UNIFI in Florence, UAL in Lisbon, BELLEVILLE in Paris and CEPT in Ahmedabad and graduated from the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio in 2011. Filippo's professional career began at Christian Kerez's studio and continued at KCAP's studio in Zurich.
As founder of santini santoni, Filippo has developed a diverse portfolio of public, educational, residential and commercial projects. His work is characterised by meticulous craftsmanship and a focus on creating people-centred living environments, reflecting his commitment to contemporary research and transformative urban development.
Since 2019, Filippo has also been actively involved in teaching at ETH Zurich. He has been a teaching assistant with visiting professor Aristide Antonas. In 2022, he joined Professor Mariam Issoufou's Chair of Architectural Heritage and Sustainability.
PROF. MARIAM ISSOUFOU
ARCHITECTURE HERITAGE & SUSTAINABILITY
ETH Zürich
Department of Architecture
Stefano–Franscini–Platz 5
CH–8093 Zürich
HIL E 47.1
INSTAGRAM
@studio.atavism