Michael Weinold

I trained as a graphic designer, which is why I particularly appreciate the little graphic details on aeroplanes; and when it comes to Dassault aircraft, the different fonts used for the names are particularly elegant. © Dassault

There's a common misconception that Brutalist buildings were unpainted, but thanks to microscopic analysis of the exteriors we can now recreate what they looked like in their prime.

Beautiful traditional architecture in Zagreb, Croatia 🇭🇷 - with scaffolding on the cathedral the last reminder of the 2022 earthquake. What was, shall be again!

The smoke plume of @KkwLeibstadt nuclear power plant from above the fog during approach into @zrh_airport on a new @HelveticAir @embraer E195 ✈️🇨🇭

Magnificent traditional architecture in Ely, Cambridgeshire 🇬🇧

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Power duo 🤝 Our brand-new Airbus A350 on its way home to Zurich, was met in the skies by an extraordinary sight: jets from the Swiss Air Force joining in formation. 🇨🇭 A proud welcome to the newest member of our fleet. ✈️ 📸 Schweizer Luftwaffe / Christian Lucek #flyswiss

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Pennsylvania - but without the greenery and the waterfall. Not so pleasant to look at now? Let's instead @build_timeless (cf. Christopher Alexander et al.)! @Google's @NanoBanana image editing in the @GeminiApp at work.

...how can we build better - and build more beautifully? This is what we hoped to learn at the @Fondetudes Summer Academy on 𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔞𝔩 𝔞𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢 I hosted with @BallandiesMC and Philippe Schultheiss ✨ We invited @michael_diamant, legendary founder of the Architectural Uprising, to talk about his success in changing political discourse in his home country of Sweden. His message was simple: 𝑽𝒐𝒙 𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒊, 𝑽𝒐𝒙 𝑫𝒆𝒊 - give the people what they want: lnkd.in/eJN2ZSQb He showed us how large-scale opinion polls provide impressive evidence for widespread support of traditional architecture. The latest such poll was conducted by The @HarrisPoll for the @civicartsociety in the US. The result - @Bloomberg simply titled "Classical or Modern Architecture? For Americans, It’s No Contest": lnkd.in/eVeBvWuK 🇨🇭This is highly relevant to Switzerland - where plebiscites are a key political instrument. For example, in 2025 a modernist proposal for the Lucerne theatre was soundly rejected by the local electorate. The main argument of the "NO"-vote movement: "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦-𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦." To me - and to @michael_diamant - it's quite simple: THE PEOPLE should have the last say - especially when it comes to "the (art) gallery you can't walk out of" (=the built environment)! More plebiscites, PLEASE! Make architects accountable to the laypeople that will walk past their designs for decades to come!

Life goals ✈️

...the Bosco Verticale (vertical forest) residential towers in Milano, Italy have been described as "the future of sustainable design". But what remains if we strip the plants from the façade and investigate the material and embodied carbon emissions..? 🌿 Yesterday, in our @Fondetudes Summer Academy on 𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔞𝔩 𝔞𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢, Dr. @mrtn_rck of the Global Building Data Initiative (GBDI) presented his work on life-cycle assessment of the built environment. He investigates the climate impact of buildings at the global level - and how cooperative design and regenerative materials, renovation and reuse of existing buildings can reduce emissions: doi.org/ggpbpm Our students then designed different scenarios - varying building lifetime and construction materials. The environmental impact from construction, operation and end-of-life was calculated using the open-source Brightway software developed by @cmutel of Départ de Sentier at the @psich_en. An amazing tool used by industry and researchers alike: brightway.dev As expected, buildings utilized over long lifetimes and made using regenerative materials, as often found in traditional architecture, fared best in our analysis 🧱 But HOW can we build more beautifully and more sustainably? HOW can laypeople exert maximum influence on the aesthetic choices often made "over their heads"? Find out tomorrow, as @BallandiesMC , Philippe Schultheiss and I investigate..!

...yesterday, in our @Fondetudes Summer Academy on 𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔞𝔩 𝔞𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢, @AALavdas introduced visual attention as a proxy for "architectural beauty". Today, for a field trial, we took to the streets of Lugano🇨🇭 We used cutting-edge @VPS_Eyetracking eye tracking glasses provided by Mindset Technologies. This was made possible through the support of Christian Kusmitsch, Fabian Simmank, Nils Berger and Aladár Țepelea. The glasses were a pleasure to work with - and look at the results! Even in a short field trial, we found that there is decent correlation between the simulated visual attention data and real-world eye tracking data. Many limitations of course still apply to such a short experiment - field of view, calibration, contrast, 3D/2D... BUT, as this promising new technology becomes more widely accessible, it can (and should!) inform new studies on how building designs are perceived - and how it affects our mental and physical health. This could extend great work by Hernan Rosas, @ann_sussman, Abigail Sekely and @AALavdas: doi.org/p5j6 Tomorrow, with @BallandiesMC and Philippe Schultheiss, we will switch gears and find out if beautiful buildings could even help us with environmental and climate protection 🌍

...beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Yes, BUT: Did you know that even toddlers "prefer" elements found in 𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔞𝔩 𝔞𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢 by looking at them longer? Just like they look at "beautiful" faces longer. Amazing! doi.org/p5d2 Today in our @Fondetudes Summer Academy, neuroscientist @AALavdas of @EURAC/@websteru/@the_HAPI presented his research on the foundations of beauty perception in the human brain. His research follows the tradition of the late architect and design theorist Prof. Christopher Alexander of @UCBerkeley and Prof. Nikos Salingaros of @UTSASciences. He has recently proposed a way of "quantifying beauty" through visual attention proxy metrics: doi.org/p5d3 Using the new🍌 @NanoBanana image editing mode of @GeminiApp, our students adapted photographs of buildings and analyzed the outcomes with state-of-the-art @3M Visual Attention Software. Can you see how adding ornament on the pediment of the temple draws the eye? 👀 Of course, these were only machine learning based simulations of eye-movement. But how do they hold up in a field test? Find out tomorrow as @BallandiesMC , Philippe Schultheiss and I take to the streets of Milano...

"Why is the modern world so ugly?" (@AlanDeBotton of @TheSchoolOfLife) To answer this question, I am hosting a week-long Summer Academy in Ticino🇨🇭for @Fondetudes on the Lost Foundations of 𝔗𝔯𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔞𝔩 𝔄𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢 together with @BallandiesMC & Philippe Schultheiss. Our first expert, Samuel Leder of @UZH_en, kicked off the week, introducing our 20 students to architecture history from ancient greek temples to the modernist movement. He put the works of early modernists such as Adolf Loos ("ornament is inherently fake") or Le Corbusier ("a house is a machine for living in") in context - and provided insights into how (post-)modernist schools of thought today dominate schools of architecture, including here in Switzerland. But isn't beauty in the eye of the beholder? Find out more about this tomorrow...

Beautiful traditional architecture in Vatican City 🇻🇦

Happy to see @ETH_en and @eth_dmavt prominently feature our lecture series on air transport - this year with a record of >500 students!✈️ A unique opportunity for students to learn directly from experts working at @zrh_airport, @FlySWISS, @bazlCH, etc! ethz.ch/en/news-and-ev…

(Remnants of) beautiful traditional architecture in Singapore, hidden among high-rises and green walls 🇸🇬

Tariffs on bananas, you say? 🤔

Beautiful traditional architecture in Innsbruck 🇦🇹

Beautiful traditional architecture (and engineering) in Vienna 🇦🇹