Developing a campus
ETH Zurich’s core missions are teaching, research, and the transfer of knowledge to business and society. Modern and flexible infrastructure is a key factor and prerequisite for international excellence.
The long-term development of the campus, ETH Zurich’s real estate planning, and its requirements for new buildings are all based on the university’s teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities. ETH Zurich follows a sustainability- and quality-driven approach to real estate development.
The university favours flexible buildings that can be easily adapted to new developments and changing requirements. The quality of the existing building stock must also be preserved and its value maintained. This is assured by the Real Estate Management department at ETH Zurich.
Central and H?nggerberg campus locations
![ETH Zurich’s traditional campus has been in the centre of the city of Zurich since 1855. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow/images/image-1.imageformat.imagegallery5.913602511.jpg)
![A constant hub of activity: ETH Zurich in the university district. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow/images/image-2.imageformat.imagegallery5.8751736.jpg)
![In 1964/65, ETH Zurich moved into the H?nggerberg. Today this is its second campus at the main site Zurich. (Picture: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow/images/image-3.imageformat.imagegallery5.817646700.jpg)
![The view from the H?nggerberg campus encompasses Zurich and the Limmat Valley, framed by the Alps. (Photograph: Jean Schmitt)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow/images/image-5.imageformat.imagegallery5.1752008385.jpg)
Two campuses in Zurich
ETH Zurich is concentrating its main spatial and structural development in the Zurich area on the two campuses in the centre and on the H?nggerberg.These provide a full range of teaching and research offerings and services. They each offer a centralised space for several departments (Zentrum: 9; H?nggerberg: 7). H?nggerberg also has a distinct campus character.
The historical nature of the neighbourhood and city structures restrict the scope of development opportunities in Zurich city centre around the Zentrum site. ETH Zurich is therefore focusing on its H?nggerberg campus for the majority of its future space requirements. Zurich is being further developed as a university centre by ETH Zurich in collaboration with University Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich. Medicine is a joint focus of development, and is also a new strategic focus for ETH Zurich.
Field-specific external sites
ETH Zurich engages in field-specific investment to develop further locations where this geographical proximity enhances collaboration on scientific activities with its research and industry partners and enables the shared use of infrastructure and technology platforms. One example of this is the Department of Biosystems in Basel, for which ETH Zurich is constructing a new building on the University of Basel’s Sch?llem?tteli life sciences campus.
Other field-specific locations include Dübendorf (Switzerland Innovation Park Zurich), Zurich-Lengg (medicine), Zurich-Irchel (neuroinformatics, pharmacology), Eschikon Lindau (agriculture and veterinary science), Schwerzenbach (nutrition, health), Rüschlikon (nanotechnology), as well as Lugano (supercomputing, information technology, medicine), and Singapore (urban development, sustainability).
People and moments on the H?nggerberg campus
![The H?nggerberg campus: a place where surprising moments are part of everyday life. (Photograph: Jean Schmitt)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-2.imageformat.imagegallery5.165575266.jpg)
![Its history begins in 1964/65 with the move of the Institute for Nuclear Physics. (Photograph: ETH Library / Witschi, Hans)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-3.imageformat.imagegallery5.988127010.jpg)
![Today, the campus is home to plenty of places where students and researchers can exchange ideas... (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Meinrad Schade)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-4.imageformat.imagegallery5.185620007.jpg)
![... and spaces for discussions between employees... (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-5.imageformat.imagegallery5.2044536019.jpg)
![... a meeting point where academia and the general population can connect. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Stefan Schneller)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-6.imageformat.imagegallery5.87658322.jpg)
![Guests flock to the official opening of ETH H?nggerberg in 1974. (Photograph: ETH Library / Image Archive)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-7.imageformat.imagegallery5.1205932163.jpg)
![... and visit the experiment lecture hall in the large auditorium building (HPH). (Photograph: ETH Library / Image Archive)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-9.imageformat.imagegallery5.1514895601.jpg)
![Large lecture halls continue to play an important role in teaching at ETH Zurich. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-10.imageformat.imagegallery5.890402396.jpg)
![Spaces, where students can develop their own ideas, are becoming increasingly important... (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-12.imageformat.imagegallery5.818973509.jpg)
![Places where you can see innovations grow: the Robotic Fabrication Laboratory. (Photograph: Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1929209806/images/image-15.imageformat.imagegallery5.494491846.jpg)
People and moments at ETH in the university district
![And the innovation loop keeps on turning... at ETH in the centre of Zurich. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Giuseppe Micciché)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-1.imageformat.imagegallery5.1039852916.jpg)
![Dive into the world of knowledge: The ETH Library. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-3.imageformat.imagegallery5.1843675487.jpg)
![Climate research in the centre of Zurich: ETH professor Sonia Seneviratne. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Markus Bertschi)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-5.imageformat.imagegallery5.1851972245.jpg)
![Rising number of students: Edoardo Mazza’s mechanics lecture is one of the most popular. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-4.imageformat.imagegallery5.510081328.jpg)
![Free learning complements lecture-style teaching: mechanical engineering students work on projects. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-2.imageformat.imagegallery5.422373888.jpg)
![A firework lights up ETH’s main building: in 2012, students celebrated the 150-year anniversary of VSETH (the Association of Students at ETH Zurich). (Photograph: ETH Zurich)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-6.imageformat.imagegallery5.1251026072.jpg)
![Research without computers: The microscopy room of the natural sciences in the 1930s. (Photograph: ETH Library)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-15.imageformat.imagegallery5.1541391755.jpg)
![Teaching before digitalisation: students constructing aircraft in the measuring room at the Institute of Aerodynamics in 1955. (Photograph: ETH Library)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-9.imageformat.imagegallery5.1659397544.jpg)
![Witnessing change: in 1972, construction of the Polyterrasse with space for sport and catering is underway. (Photograph: ETH Bibliothek / Kurt Schollenberger)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-14.imageformat.imagegallery5.2005163988.jpg)
![Under the Polyterrasse: Globi greets children at Scientifica 2017, where they can directly experience what data can reveal. (Photograph: Frank Brüderli)](/en/campus/development/_jcr_content/par/slideshow_1264469493/images/image-12.imageformat.imagegallery5.242650139.jpg)