Yves WeinandBiography
Architect and civil engineer, Prof. Dr. Yves Weinand is one of the most recognised researchers in the field of contemporary wood construction. Founder of the Bureau d'Etude Weinand, he has, since 1996, designed and worked on many emblematic wooden buildings, such as the Saint Loup Chapel, the new Vaudois Parliament or, more recently, the Timber Pavilion of Vidy in Lausanne. His fundamental research questions the technical and static possibilities of wooden materials. The interdisciplinary exploration carried out at the EPFL's Laboratory for Timber Constructions (Ibois), of which he is director, concerns wood in all its aspects, from round wood to manufactured wood. The recent research carried out at Ibois on free structures with wood-wood connections (without screw nor glue) has been the subject of several technological transfers, and stands as tangible proof of new possibilities for wood construction. Yves Weinand is currently working on a large-scale project for a hall for the head office of a joinery in Luxembourg, consisting of a succession of arches with spans of 22.5 to 53.7m, entirely assembled in wood ). Through new innovative approaches, the ambition of his research is to develop a new generation of renewable and ecological wooden construction.He is regularly invited to present his work at international symposia on timber construction.
Fields of expertise
Architectural designTimber structuresDigital FabricationRobotic AssemblyStructural Wood mechanicsIntegrally Attached Timber plate structures
Distinctions
2012 Grand Prix d'Architecture de Wallonie
2014 Best Paper Award, Advances in Architectural Geometry conference. (IBOIS team)
2017 Medal for Research and Technique by the Academy of Architecture. 2018 Mention Régionale, Prix Lignum for the Timber Pavilion of Vidy-Lausanne
2019 "Disctinction Bois 2019" for the Nouveau Parlement vaudois.2019 Grand Prix d'Architecture de Wallonie____________________________________________________________________________
Selected publications
Les Cahiers de l'Ibois/ Ibois Notebooks 1, F. Fromonot, S. Berthier, Y. Rocher, publication directors: Y. Weinand et C. Catsaros, 2020 EPFL Press Le Pavillon en bois du Théâtre de Vidy, under the direction of Yves Weinand; V. Baudriller, J. Gamerro, M. Jaccard, C. Robeller; 2017, PPURAdvanced Timber Structures - Architectural Designs and Digital Dimensioning, Y. Weinand, 2017, Birkhaüser, publié en trois langues (french : Structures Innovantes en Bois (2016); german : Neue Holztragwerke - Architektonische Entwürfe und digitale Bemessung (2017)Grubenmann Project / Projekt Grubenmann, Y. Weinand, 2016, Stiftung Grubenmann-SammlungTimber Project: Nouvelles formes d’architectures en bois, Y. Weinand, 2010, PPURArchitexto, Y. Weinand and D. Darcis, 2009, Editions Fourre-Tout, LiègeLe bois soudé, B. Stamm and Y. Weinand, 2004, Architecture Bois & DépendanceNew Modeling - projeter ensemble, Y. Weinand, 2003, PPUR Paul XirouchakisPaul Xirouchakis obtained his diplôme in mechanical and electrical engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece in 1971. He continued his education at the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Techniques Avancées, in Paris, France where he obtained his diplôme dIngénieur de lE.N.S.T.A. et dIngénieur civil du Génie Maritime in 1973. He obtained his PhD degree in Structural Mechanics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978. He was appointed thereafter assistant and later associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1978-1985). Subsequently he was nominated associate professor at the National Technical University in Athens (1985-1987). After about eight years working in the industry with JJMA, Arlington, Virginia (in parallel he also obtained a PhD degree in Information Technology, in 1992 from George Mason University) he was nominated at EPFL professor of computer-aided design and manufacturing since July 1995. At EPFL he teaches design for X at the bachelors level, computer-aided manufacturing and multi-body dynamics simulation at the masters level and manufacturing information systems at the doctoral level. His research covers the development of methods and computer tools for the (sustainable) product design and manufacturing. Current research projects deal with the development of method and tools for resource efficient part manufacturing, chatter-free part programming, development of a virtual multi-body dynamics machine tool environment and composites drilling programming.
François AvellanProf. François Avellan, director of the EPFL Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines, graduated in Hydraulic Engineering from Ecole nationale supérieure d'hydraulique, Institut national polytechnique de Grenoble, France, in 1977 and, in 1980, got his doctoral degree in engineering from University of Aix-Marseille II, France. Research associate at EPFL in 1980, he is director of the EPFL Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines since 1994 and, in 2003, was appointed Ordinary Professor in Hydraulic Machinery. Supervising 37 EPFL doctoral theses, he was distinguished by SHF, Société hydrotechnique de France, awarding him the "Grand Prix 2010 de l'hydrotechnique". His main research domains of interests are hydrodynamics of turbine, pump and pump-turbines including cavitation, hydro-acoustics, design, performance and operation assessments of hydraulic machines. Prof. Avellan was Chairman of the IAHR Section on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems from 2002 to 2012. He has conducted successfully several Swiss and international collaborative research projects, involving key hydropower operators and suppliers, such as:
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Coordination for the FP7 European project n° 608532 "HYPERBOLE: HYdropower plants PERformance and flexiBle Operation towards Lean integration of new renewable Energies" (2013-2017);
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Deputy Head of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research – Supply of Electricity (SCCER-SoE) to carry out innovative and sustainable research in the areas of geo-energy and hydropower for phase I (2013-2016) and Phase II (2017, 2010) to be approved.
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EUREKA European research projects: N° 4150 and N° 3246, "HYDRODYNA, Harnessing the dynamic behavior of pump-turbines", (2003-2011), N° 1605, "FLINDT, Flow Investigation in Draft Tubes", http://flindt.epfl.ch/, (1997-2002). N° 2418, "SCAPIN, Stability of Operation of Francis turbines, prediction and modeling";
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Swiss KTI/CTI research projects with GE Renewable Energy (anc. ALSTOM Hydro), Birr, ANDRITZ Hydro, Kriens, FMV, Sion, Groupe E, Granges-Paccot, Power Vision engineering, Ecublens and SULZER Pumps, Winterthur.
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ETH Domain, HYDRONET Project for the Competence Center Energy and Mobility, PSI Villingen.
Furthermore, he is involved in scientific expertise and independent contractual experimental validations of turbines and pump turbines performances for the main hydropower plants in the world. In recognition for his work as Convenor of the TC4 working group of experts in editing the IEC 60193 standard he received the "IEC 1906 Award" from the International Electrotechnical Commission. Hannes BleulerSwiss, Born 19.2.1954
1973-78 ETH Zurich, M.S. in Electrical Engineering
1979-84 Teaching Assistant, Doctorate Student at ETH (Inst. of Mechanics)
1984 Ph.D. thesis in Mechatronics (magnetic bearings, Prof. G. Schweitzer)
1985-87 Research Engineer at Hitachi Ltd, Japan, Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory;
1987 Invited researcher at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Precision Mechatronics, Prof. K. Ono)
1988-91 Lecturer and Senior Assistant at ETH ; co-foundation of MECOS-Traxler AG
1991-95 Toshiba Chair of "Intelligent Mechatronics" and then regular Associate Professor at The University of Tokyo (Institute of Industrial Science)
1995-present Full Professor at EPFL Lausanne on microrobotics, biomedical robotics;
2000 Co-founder of xitact SA, Morges (robotic surgery instrumentation & simulators)
2002-2006 President Conference of Professors and Lecturers of EPFL, member of Assemblée de l'Ecole
2006 Chairman of ISMB10 (10th International Symposium on Magnetic Bearings, Martigny, Switzerland)
2006 Nomination as member of the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences (SATW)
Jonathan GravesProf. Jonathan P. Graves is a Senior Scientist at EPFL and Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of York, UK. He achieved first class joint honours in Electronic Engineering and Mathematics from the University of Nottingham, UK in 1996. He completed his Ph.D. in Theoretical Mechanics from the University of Nottingham, UK, three years later in 1999. During his Ph.D. he was based in the Culham theory group of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, developing kinetic descriptions of the internal kink instability, and participating in deuterium-tritium experimental analysis in the Joint European Torus. After a short time in industry, and a postdoc at Nottingham University, he took a position at the Swiss Plasma Center at EPFL, becoming a Senior Scientist in 2014, and became an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of York, UK, in 2020. In 2015 he became a member of the EUROfusion Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) and a member of the EUROfusion DEMO Technical Advisory Group. He is on the editorial board for the journal Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, and in 2020 became Scientific Secretary of the Varenna-Lausanne International Workshop in Theory of Fusion Plasmas.
Denis GilletDenis Gillet received the Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) in 1988, and the Ph.D. degree in Information Systems also from the EPFL in 1995. During 1992 he was appointed as Research Fellow at the Information Systems Laboratory of Stanford University in the United States. He is currently Maître d'enseignement et de recherche at the EPFL School of Engineering, where he leads the React research group. His current research interests include Technologies Enhanced Learning (TEL), Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Human Devices Interaction (HDI) and Optimal Coordination of Complex and Distributed Systems. Denis Gillet is affiliated at EPFL with the Center for Intelligent Systems and the Center for Digital Education.