Taking to the water in a concrete canoe
On 17 June, the Institute for Building Materials at ETH Zurich will be launching its two concrete canoes on the water for the first time, with its sights set on winning a regatta in Germany.
A concrete canoe regatta is held in Germany every two years, with students from all over Europe competing against one another with their various boat designs. Following on from their success in the last two contests, two teams from the Institute for Building Materials – part of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (D-BAUG) – have set themselves ambitious targets for this year’s event too.
For the first time, the teams, in close collaboration with the Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication, have developed their canoes using digital fabrication technology based on the Smart Dynamic Casting and Mesh-Mould research projects. They hope this will give them a good chance of winning first prize in the “Construction” category.
Members of ETH Zurich are cordially invited to come and watch the launching ceremony for the two concrete canoes (which go by the names of “Queen ElisamEshTH” and “S2D2”), which will take place between 5.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. on Wednesday 17 June by the lake in front of the HPZ building on the H?nggerberg campus.