Semiramis Installation is an architectural installation designed with artificial intelligence that was constructed in 2022 at the entrance of a new Tech Cluster Zug, Switzerland. As a herald for the increasingly interwoven collaboration between machines and humans, it aims to go beyond usual urban programs and it will rise as a vertical urban habitat reserved for plants and small local animals. By dwelling between the artificial and the natural, Semiramis has been established through a manifold of synergies and research projects in the fields of interactive computational design, machine learning, and digital fabrication. On a formal level, the structure is 22.5 meters in height without vegetation and is composed of five amorphous wooden pods sustained by 8 thin steel pillars.
Courtesy of Gramazio Kohler Research
Design and fabrication. Thanks to a bespoke machine learning design method created by our chair in collaboration with the Swiss Data Science Center, the team could interactively extrapolate the most effective design variations for the generation of the overall spatial composition of Semiramis. The performance criteria were based on parameters such as sunshade, rain occlusion, and plantable surface.
Courtesy of Gramazio Kohler Research
Parallelly, thanks to the cooperation with the Computational Robotics Lab, we developed a custom tool that has allowed us to optimize the single pods’ shape by interactively controlling their complex geometry while considering relevant material and fabrication parameters. For example, it maintains the individual panels flat and respects the possible range of their individual sizes while improving structural load capacity.
Courtesy of Gramazio Kohler Research
Eventually, the cross-laminated timber plates are robotically assembled with a novel assembly procedure that has been created by Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich, together with TS3, and the Chair for Timber Structures at ETH Zurich. This process allows butt joint bonding of wood, thus making the production of large areas of complex folded wood structures possible.
Courtesy of Gramazio Kohler Research
The robotic assembly of Semiramis will also represent a milestone in the history of Gramazio Kohler Research. In fact, for the first time ever at the Robotic Fabrication Lab at ETH Zurich, four robots will work simultaneously in an unprecedented additive manufacturing process. Our team closely collaborated with Intrinsic, building integrations between their robot planning technology and COMPAS FAB, our open-source robotic fabrication package.
Courtesy of Gramazio Kohler Research
Questions on nature. The vertical, landscaping concept within the pods has been ideated together with and implemented by Müller Illien Landscape Architects Gmbh. Nature will have the chance to grow undisturbed: people cannot access the pagoda-like pods. Our only chance to admire the new living and morphing ecosystem is as hosts and passers-by. For the moment, just from underneath, and in the future, also from the surrounding buildings that will rise around it. Semiramis is a precursor in the new urban area of the Tech Cluster Zug, as the adjacent buildings will be erected during subsequent years and decades.
Courtesy of Gramazio Kohler Research
Apart from being an installation that wishes to question and reflect on our complex relationship with nature, Semiramis will provide a retreat and gathering place underneath its surfaces for the workers and inhabitants of this area of Zug. Thanks to its green densification, which is regulated through a centralized irrigation system, the light will be filtered and will create various degrees of shade on the ground while offering a comfortable microclimate in the hottest months of the year.
Project Info
Architects: ETH Zürich, Gramazio Kohler Research, Müller Illien Landschaftarchitekten, Timbatec Timber Construction Engineers Switzerland, Urban Assets Zug AG
Country: Switzerland, Zug
Year: 2022
Photographs: Courtesy of Gramazio Kohler Research, Courtesy of Tech Cluster Zug
Architecture And Digital Fabrication: Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich
In Cooperation With: Müller Illien Landschaftsarchitekten, Timbatec Timber Construction Engineers Switzerland
Client: Urban Assets Zug AG
Selected Experts: Computational Robotics Lab, ETH Zurich, Swiss Data Science Center, Chair for Timber Structures, ETH Zurich.
Selected Contractors: Erne AG Holzbau
Industry Partner: TS3 AG; Intrinsic
Sophie Tremblay is a Montreal-based architectural editor and designer with a focus on sustainable urban development. A McGill University architecture graduate, she began her career in adaptive reuse, blending modern design with historical structures. As a Project Editor at Arch2O, she curates stories that connect traditional practice with forward-thinking design. Her writing highlights architecture's role in community engagement and social impact. Sophie has contributed to Canadian Architect and continues to collaborate with local studios on community-driven projects throughout Quebec, maintaining a hands-on approach that informs both her design sensibility and editorial perspective.