Three doctoral theses from D-ARCH honored with ETH Medal
During the doctoral awards ceremony on 24 January 2025, Matthew Critchley, Rune Frandsen and Kam-Ming Mark Tam received a Silver Medal for outstanding doctoral theses.
Outstanding doctoral theses are honored with the Silver Medal of ETH Zurich and a financial sum of 2000 Swiss Francs. At the doctoral awards ceremony on 24 January 2025, the prize was awarded to three D-ARCH alumni. The department congratulates the recipients and all the alumni who received their doctoral degree certificates.
One ETH Medal is awarded to Matthew Critchley, who is a lecturer and post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) at the Department of Architecture of ETH Zurich. He completed his doctorate titled “A Question of Method: Anthony Blunt and the Practice of Architectural History in Britain (1934-1974)” in 2023 under the supervision of Professor Maarten Delbeke and Professor Anthony Vidler.
Rune Frandsen, who is currently working as Scientific Collaborator at Bundesamt für Kultur BAK, receives an ETH Medal for his doctorate, that he completed under the supervision of Professor Günther Vogt, Hollyamber Kennedy and Professor Silke Langenberg. It is called the "Shadow Territory and Secondary Infrastructures: The Hidden Landscapes of Temporary Labor at the Grande Dixence (1950–1965)" and investigates the infrastructure necessary to build the hydroelectric network in Valais.
A third ETH Medal goes to Kam-Ming Mark Tam, who is Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong. Tam completed his doctoral thesis at ETH Zurich, where he conducted research at the Block Research Group co-led by Professor Philippe Block and Dr. Tom Van Mele. His thesis is titled "Learning Discrete Equilibrium: Trans-topological Inverse Pattern and Force Design Using Machine Learning & Automatic Differentiation". The committee of examiners included Professor Andreas Krause, Robert Otani, and Professor Nathan Brown.