Caterina Franco
+41 21 693 81 95
Office:
BP 4132
EPFL › ENAC › IA › LAB-U
Website: https://lab-u.epfl.ch/
Current Work
FNS Ambizione Fellow 01.02.2025-31.01.2029
Alpine modernity? Plans, buildings, remains, 1929–1975. Towards an architectural and environmental history of high-altitude tourism, from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean
The research focuses on the impact of tourism on the Swiss, Italian and French Alps between 1929 and 1975. In particular, it examines the interactions between projects and the environment in high-altitude areas affected by the 'ex nihilo' construction of ski resorts, as well as the relationship between the establishment of a tourist activity and the history of an area.
Alpine modernity? Plans, buildings, remains, 1929–1975. Towards an architectural and environmental history of high-altitude tourism, from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean
The research focuses on the impact of tourism on the Swiss, Italian and French Alps between 1929 and 1975. In particular, it examines the interactions between projects and the environment in high-altitude areas affected by the 'ex nihilo' construction of ski resorts, as well as the relationship between the establishment of a tourist activity and the history of an area.
Caterina Franco is an architect who graduated from the Politecnico di Milano in 2013. In 2019, she obtained a PhD in architecture with a thesis entitled Dans le lieu et dans le temps. For an environmental history of tourist infrastructure in the French-Italian Alps (1945-1975), conducted at the Métiers de l'Histoire de l'Architecture laboratory at ENSAG - Université Grenoble Alpes in joint supervision with the ABC department of the Politecnico di Milano.
Between May 2021 and September 2024, she conducted post-doctoral research at the Institute of Geography and Sustainability (IGD) and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mountain Research (CIRM) at the University of Lausanne, continuing her studies on the history of the transformations of Alpine territories induced by winter tourism.
Since February 2025, she has been leading the project Une modernité alpine ? Plans, constructions, vestiges, 1929-1975. Pour une histoire architecturale et environnementale du tourisme de haute montagne, du lac Léman à la Méditerranée (An Alpine Modernity? Plans, Buildings, Remains, 1929-1975. Towards an Architectural and Environmental History of High Mountain Tourism, from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean), funded by an Ambizione grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (2025-2029), at the EPFL's Urbanism Laboratory.
She is also an associate researcher at the Laboratorio di Storia delle Alpi (USI-Mendrisio) and at the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur la Montagne (Unil).
Teaching & PhD
Courses
Environmental histories of architecture
AR-694
The course explores the emerging dialogue between environmental and architectural history, examining how architecture related with climate, energy, non-human agency and pollution in the past. The programme consists of lectures by guest professors and discussions based on shared bibliography.