School Lecture Series: Stefana Parascho + Aude Billard / EPFL Architecture
Event details
| Date | 08.09.2026 |
| Hour | 18:15 › 20:00 |
| Speaker | Aude Billard, Stefana Parascho |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Exhibtion Opening Lecture
Do Robots Dream of Construction Sites?
09.09-05.12.2026
Produced in collaboration with the CRCL
Do Robots Dream of Construction Sites?
What if robots didn’t replace people, but worked alongside us to conceive, plan and build architecture? While digitalisation is reshaping the built environment, most efforts have centered on automation and substitution, with little real impact on how we design or build. The talk argues that adaptability - not automation - is the key to sustainable architectural and construction impact. It highlights autonomous systems that adjust structural and spatial strategies in real time, and human-robot interaction models that keep human judgment central. The lecture introduces the exhibition “Do Robots Dream of Construction Sites” and ends with a panel discussion between Prof. Stefana Parascho and Prof. Aude Billard, moderated by Prof. Pier Vittorio Aureli.
Stefana Parascho
Stefana Parascho is a researcher, architect, and educator whose work lies at the intersection of architecture, robotics and computational design. She is an Assistant Professor at EPFL where she founded the Lab for Creative Computation (CRCL). Her work focuses on human-robot collaborative processes and the relationship between robotic construction and the built environment. Her goal is to strengthen the interdisciplinary nature of the field by increasing accessibility of digital tools and connecting technical research with societal aspects. Before joining EPFL, she was an Assistant Professor at Princeton University. She holds a PhD from ETH Zurich and a Diploma in Architectural Engineering from the University of Stuttgart.
Aude Billard
Aude Billard is full professor and head of the LASA laboratory at EPFL. She is a pioneer in the fields of machine learning and human-robot interactions. Aude Billard acts as the President-elect of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), after serving in several roles in the committees of IEEE RAS. Aude Billard holds a M.Sc. in Physics from EPFL and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh. She is an IEEE Fellow and has received numerous awards, including the Intel Teaching Award, IEEE RAS Distinguished Award, and Swiss National Science Foundation Career Award.
Part of School Lecture Series, Autumn 2026, Learning Vol.1
We are told that learning is no longer confined to the school or the university, but it has become a continuous process that involves the totality of life. Yet in accepting this reality, we take for granted several questions that loom large within the contemporary idea of learning. In a time when technology and information are ubiquitous, does it still make sense that for learning to happen or be confined within a place? Is learning still an asymmetrical relationship where there are teachers and a student? And above all, is learning accessible, or has it become too expensive a commodity? In this lecture series, we’ll attempt to answer these questions by investigating learning on different levels such as technology, construction systems, educational spaces, and above all, making architecture. Indeed, the question that is more than anything else crucial to us is whether architecture is still a place of learning and not only of empowering those who have capital to build it. We will look at schools, drawings, robots, and measuring devices. We will ponder whether these things are only ‘tools’ to achieve a result or can still be vital places for learning.
Recordings available on YouTube
@epflarchitectureschool
Graphic Design
Roman Karrer & Sandi Gazic
Do Robots Dream of Construction Sites?
09.09-05.12.2026
Produced in collaboration with the CRCL
Do Robots Dream of Construction Sites?
What if robots didn’t replace people, but worked alongside us to conceive, plan and build architecture? While digitalisation is reshaping the built environment, most efforts have centered on automation and substitution, with little real impact on how we design or build. The talk argues that adaptability - not automation - is the key to sustainable architectural and construction impact. It highlights autonomous systems that adjust structural and spatial strategies in real time, and human-robot interaction models that keep human judgment central. The lecture introduces the exhibition “Do Robots Dream of Construction Sites” and ends with a panel discussion between Prof. Stefana Parascho and Prof. Aude Billard, moderated by Prof. Pier Vittorio Aureli.
Stefana Parascho
Stefana Parascho is a researcher, architect, and educator whose work lies at the intersection of architecture, robotics and computational design. She is an Assistant Professor at EPFL where she founded the Lab for Creative Computation (CRCL). Her work focuses on human-robot collaborative processes and the relationship between robotic construction and the built environment. Her goal is to strengthen the interdisciplinary nature of the field by increasing accessibility of digital tools and connecting technical research with societal aspects. Before joining EPFL, she was an Assistant Professor at Princeton University. She holds a PhD from ETH Zurich and a Diploma in Architectural Engineering from the University of Stuttgart.
Aude Billard
Aude Billard is full professor and head of the LASA laboratory at EPFL. She is a pioneer in the fields of machine learning and human-robot interactions. Aude Billard acts as the President-elect of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), after serving in several roles in the committees of IEEE RAS. Aude Billard holds a M.Sc. in Physics from EPFL and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh. She is an IEEE Fellow and has received numerous awards, including the Intel Teaching Award, IEEE RAS Distinguished Award, and Swiss National Science Foundation Career Award.
Part of School Lecture Series, Autumn 2026, Learning Vol.1
We are told that learning is no longer confined to the school or the university, but it has become a continuous process that involves the totality of life. Yet in accepting this reality, we take for granted several questions that loom large within the contemporary idea of learning. In a time when technology and information are ubiquitous, does it still make sense that for learning to happen or be confined within a place? Is learning still an asymmetrical relationship where there are teachers and a student? And above all, is learning accessible, or has it become too expensive a commodity? In this lecture series, we’ll attempt to answer these questions by investigating learning on different levels such as technology, construction systems, educational spaces, and above all, making architecture. Indeed, the question that is more than anything else crucial to us is whether architecture is still a place of learning and not only of empowering those who have capital to build it. We will look at schools, drawings, robots, and measuring devices. We will ponder whether these things are only ‘tools’ to achieve a result or can still be vital places for learning.
Recordings available on YouTube
@epflarchitectureschool
Graphic Design
Roman Karrer & Sandi Gazic
Practical information
- General public
- Free