GRANULAR TOPOLOGIES
ilmarhurkxkens.com
The work of Ilmar Hurkxkens focuses on the form and processes of natural granular materials using advanced landscape surveying, modelling, and fabrication techniques. After graduating in architecture with an honourable mention from Delft University of Technology, he worked at the Chair of Landscape Architecture of Professor Christophe Girot, ETH Zurich, where he was DesignLab coordinator and member of the Landscape Visualization and Modeling Lab. He received the Young Researcher Award from the Volkswagen Foundation in 2013, the Digital Culture Work Grant from the Migros Culture Percentage with Ungenau Robotics in 2018 and in 2020 he was nominated for the ETH Medal for his dissertation “Robotic Landscapes” at the NCCR Digital Fabrication. He is co-founder of LANDSKIP, a laboratory centred on the production and deployment of new technologies for landscape transformation. His own firm Studio Ilmar Hurkxkens works on landscape architectural projects in Switzerland, Netherlands and Greece. As co-editor of Pamphlet 19, he assessed the importance of field instruments for landscape design. Currently, he holds a postdoc position at Gramazio Kohler Research and is a lecturer in the Master of Science in Landscape Architecture, ETH Zurich.
ALL
DESIGN RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS
LECTURES
EXHIBITIONS
AWARDS
ETH Medal Nomination
September 2020
Nominated for the Silver Medal of the ETH Zurich for outstanding doctoral theses
“Robotic Landscapes: Topological Approaches to Terrain, Design, and Fabrication”
Robotic Landscapes: Topological Approaches to Terrain, Design, and Fabrication
September 2020 DISSERTATION
NCCR Digital Fabrication ETH Zurich,
on the recommendation of:
Prof. Christophe Girot (Supervisor)
Prof. Marco Hutter (Co-Supervisor)
Prof. Matthias Kohler (Co-Supervisor)
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000451100
Robotic Embankment Prototype
July 2020 RESEARCH DEMONSTRATOR
Ilmar Hurkxkens, Dominic Jud, Marco Hutter, Christophe Girot
Chair of Landscape Architecture, Prof. Christophe Girot, ETH Zurich
Robotic Systems Lab, Prof. Marco Hutter, ETH Zurich
NCCR Digital Fabrication, ETH Zurich
Informing Topology:
Performative Landscapes with Rapid Mass
Movement Simulation
June 2020
PEER REVIEWED
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Ilmar Hurkxkens, Benedikt Kowalewski, and
Christophe Girot
In: JoDLA. Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture
https://doi.org/10.14627/537690014
Shifting Sands:
Designing Robotic Formation Processes for Dynamic Beach Nourishment
February 2020 MASTERCLASS
Ilmar Hurkxkens with Dave Pigram and James Melsom
School of Architecture, University of Technology Sydney
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8fGHgkFAIS/
