Hans-Rudolf Schalcher

Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich

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    Hans-Rudolf Schalcher is Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich and was a member of the Management Board of the Foundation and chair of the Academic Committee (2003-13).

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    Global Holcim Awards 2009 jury: Hans-Rudolf Schalcher.

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    Hans-Rudolf Schalcher was a participant at the 5th International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction on the topic of “Infrastructure Space” held in Detroit in April 2016.

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    Outgoing Head of the Academic Committee (AC) of the Holcim Foundation, Hans-Rudolf Schalcher (left), Prof. em. of Planning and Management in Construction at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) congratulates new Chair of the AC, Marc Angélil, Chair of Architecture and Design at the ETH Zurich during the 4th International Holcim Forum.

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    Representatives of the Partner Universities of the LafargeHolcim Foundation met in Lausanne, Switzerland as part of the Global Holcim Awards 2012 handover ceremony and synergy meetings.

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    Hans-Rudolf Schalcher at the Global Holcim Awards jury 2012 meeting in Zurich, Switzerland.

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    Presentation to the winning team in the Student Poster Competition at the 3rd Holcim Forum (2010) in Mexico City for “Boba flat – horizontal densification” (l-r): Hans-Rudolf Schalcher (Switzerland), Head, Academic Committee, Holcim Forum; Rolf Soiron (Switzerland), Chairman, Advisory Board, Holcim Foundation; and team members Forrest Meggers and Philippe Jorisch (Switzerland), postgraduate students at ETH Zurich.

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    The Holcim Awards jury for region North America met in Cambridge, MA, USA in July 2011 to select projects using the “target issues” for sustainable construction (l-r): Sheila Kennedy, Nader Tehrani, Harry Gugger, Mohsen Mostafavi (Head of Jury), Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, Bernard Terver, Mark West, Ray Cole, and Keller Easterling.

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    Presenting the results of the blue workshop sessions: Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, Professor em., Department of Civil, Einvironmental and Geomatic Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technlogy (ETH Zurich), Switzerland

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    Global Holcim Awards jury meeting 2009 in March 2009 in Zurich, Switzerland: Members of the Global Holcim Awards jury 2009 (l-r): Rolf Soiron, Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, Peter Head, Saskia Sassen, Charles Correa (head), Enrique Norten (not pictured), Achim Steiner (not pictured).

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    The Holcim Awards jury for region Latin America met in Mexico City, Mexico in July 2008 to select projects using the “target issues” for sustainable construction (l-r): Fernando Diez, Yolanda Kakabadse, Marc M. Angélil, Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, José Luis Cortés (Head), Sara Topelson, Bruno Stagno, Daniel Bermúdez Samper, Vanderley M. John.

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    The Holcim Awards jury for region Africa Middle East met in Casablanca, Morocco in June 2011 to select projects using the “target issues” for sustainable construction (l-r): Javier de Benito, Hashim Sarkis (Head of Jury), Joe Osae-Addo, Abderrafih Lahbabi, Amer Moustafa, Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, Mphethi Morojele, Chrisna du Plessis and Holger Wallbaum.

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    Board of the Holcim Foundation members (l-r): Enrique Norten, Bernard Fontana*, Alexander Biner*, Harry Gugger*, Yolanda Kakabadse, Klaus Töpfer, Marc Angélil, Roland Walker, Simon Upton, Hans-Rudolf Schalcher* and Rolf Soiron (* = also Steering Committee member).

Hans-Rudolf Schalcher is Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He was a member of the Board of the Holcim Foundation, and created/chaired the Academic Committee of the Holcim Foundation (2003-13).

Last updated: July 07, 2021 Zurich, Switzerland

Hans-Rudolf Schalcher's main fields in teaching and research were systems engineering, project and corporate management, risk and quality management, real estate and infrastructure management and sustainable construction.

He worked as a civil engineer from 1969 after studying at the ETH Zurich. He completed his PhD in 1977 also at ETH Zurich with a thesis on communication in construction.

In 1990 he was appointed by the ETH as Professor for Planning & Management in Construction where he led various interdisciplinary research projects in the fields of project and real estate management, risk and stakeholder management, and sustainable development in urban environments.

Hans-Rudolf Schalcher became president of the Center for Integrated Planning in Construction (ZIPBau) at the ETH Zurich in 1993. He was Head of the Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering (1999-2005). He retired in 2009.

In 1996, he founded an ETH spinoff dealing with real estate management. Today, this consulting firm employs more than 50 people and is one of the top players in this field in Europe. Hans-Rudolf Schalcher was a Board Member from the beginning, and president of the board (2006-16).

Hans-Rudolf Schalcher chaired an expert team mandated by the Swiss Transportation Authority (BAV) to manage the construction risks of the new NEAT railway tunnels crossing the Swiss Alps (2003-16).

Since 2013 he also acts as President of the Steering Committee of Swiss National Research Program NRP 70 “Energy Turnaround”, which aims to identify approaches and contributions to sustainable energy policy in Switzerland. He was also a member of the Steering Committee of NRP 54 “Sustainable Development of the Built Environment” (2005-11).

Hans-Rudolf Schalcher was the representative of the Academic Committee of the Holcim Foundation in all Holcim Awards juries in the first (2005/06), second (2008/09) and third (2011/12) cycles of the competition. He was moderator of the Holcim Forums on “Basic Needs” in Zurich (2004), “Urban_Trans_Formation” in Shanghai (2007), “Re-inventing Construction” in Mexico City (2010), and moderated the workshop “Retained Diversity” at “Economy of Sustainable Construction” in Mumbai (2013).

Hans-Rudolf Schalcher was a member of the Board since the inception of the Management Board of the Foundation in 2003 until December 2013, as well as a member of the Steering Committee. He created and chaired the Academic Committee of the Holcim Foundation (2003-13).