Philippe Block
Member
Philippe Block, a Belgian national born in 1980, was elected to the Board of Directors of Holcim in 2020.
Background
Philippe holds a master's degree in Architectural Engineering from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), Belgium, a master's degree in Architectural Studies in Design and Computation and a Ph.D. in Building Technologies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, U.S.
In 2009, Philippe was appointed Assistant Professor of Architecture and Structures at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland. In 2017, he was promoted to full professor. He is the Co-Director of the Block Research Group at ETH where he focuses his research on unreinforced masonry structures, computational structural design, and innovative construction techniques with a strong emphasis on sustainability and circularity.
As Director of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) for Digital Fabrication, Philippe is a renowned expert in structural design, computational engineering and digital fabrication of concrete construction with many publications and awards.
Other activities and functions
- Founding Partner of Foreign Engineering GmbH, Zurich, Switzerland
- Co-founder and Chairman of the Board (non-executive role) at Vaulted AG (ETH spin-off)
