trans is the journal of the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich, a public research university in Zürich, Switzerland.
Each issue of this magazine is themed. Edition 42 explores 'time', an eternal topic in architecture. Buildings are made up of different layers, which in turn have different lifespans. They are witnesses to other times, times before us and times yet to come. Thresholds that allow us to see how previous generations lived and how the coming ones might carry on. Our perception of time is constantly changing, too. It seems we picked up the pace of pre-pandemic times and rushed to readapt to the capitalist structure where acceleration, growth, and consumption define the modus operandi. This issue might seem to have a clear start and finish, but its content meanders well beyond the boundaries of its pages so take your time reading it