Venturing Permanence: The ETH House of Science in Bamiyan

The city of Bamiyan in Afghanistan is inextricably tied to the shocking destruction of its famous Buddha statues by the Taliban in 2001. But this war-torn region is not simply emblematic of the devastation of a city in crisis—Bamiyan is also the site of a university, a locus of hope and learning. In 2006 three European architects, Ivica Brnic, Florian Graf, and Wolfgang Rossbauer, created the House of Science of the ETH Zurich for Bamiyan University. Venturing Permanence looks at the building six years after its opening through text and images, while exploring larger issues of cultural transfer and the role of architecture in rebuilding areas of international conflict.