Elli Mosayebi

Photo by Anne Morgenstern 

The close connection between practice, research, and teaching characterizes the career of Elli Mosayebi. Since 2004, she has led the Zurich-based architecture office Edelaar Mosayebi Inderbitzin together with Ron Edelaar and Christian Inderbitzin. Through numerous projects won through competitions, housing and urban design have assumed special significance in their work. From 2004 to 2008, she was a research assistant at the Chair for Architecture Theory under Prof. Dr. Ákos Moravánszky, during which she completed her doctoral dissertation on the work of the Milanese architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni. From 2012 to 2018, she was Professor for Design and Housing at TU Darmstadt, where she conducted a comparative study of post-war European housing. In 2017, together with Ron Edelaar and Christian Inderbitzin, she led the design studio “Ruins and Machines” at ETH Zurich. Since 2018, she has held the position of Professor for Architecture and Design at ETH Zurich. Housing and the changes it is currently undergoing are integral aspects of her practice and research.

The office has won several awards and prizes, including the Swiss Art Award for “Anthropomorphic Form” in 2019, the Prix Lignum 2024 for their school building Chliriet, and Die Besten “Gold” for the “Performative House” in Zurich. Elli Mosayebi’s book, The Renewal of Dwelling: European Housing Construction 1945–1975, co-edited with Michael Kraus, has received significant recognition, including the DAM Architectural Book Award 2023. This prestigious award is presented by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) to honor outstanding architectural publications.