- 04/05/23 — I will join Stanford University this September as an incoming PhD Student in the newly formed Gradient Spaces Lab under Dr. Iro Armeni. Thrilled to announce more updates here once we set sail!
- 01/01/23 — I started as a Research Assistant at ETH Zurich in the CEA Lab to drive an exciting research project at the interface between Remote Sensing, Forensic Architecture, Circular Engineering, and Computer Vision under the supervision of Prof. Catherine De Wolf. We call the project Mapping Ukraine.
- 04/22 — Finished my Master's Thesis at ETH Zurich in collaboration with Design++. Our research project bridges the gap between the domains of Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Computer Science. Paper is under review and I can hopefully share some results soon.

Martin Juan José Bucher
Research Assistant at ETH Zurich
Circular Engineering for Architecture
Prof. Catherine De Wolf
Office: HIL F 27.17
Twitter / Google Scholar / LinkedIn
News
Biography
Martin Juan José Bucher is an interdisciplinary Computer Scientist, Software Engineer, and Maker currently based in Zürich, Switzerland. His recent interests evolve primarily around the intersection of Machine Perception, Computer Vision, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Computational Design. He started to work on problems synthesizing ideas from Generative Modeling and Generative Design within the field of Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (AEC), bridging the gap between Deep Learning and Generative Design. Martin holds an MSc in Computer Science from ETH Zurich and a BSc in Informatics from UZH.
He joined the Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture (CEA) in January 2023 as a Research Assistant and started to work on 3D Reconstruction and Volume Estimation problems within the Mapping Ukraine project at ETH Zurich. In the past, he was involved (2020-2022) as a Research Assistant at the Chair for International Relations and Political Economy (IRPE) at the Department of Political Science at UZH, focusing mainly on Natural Language Processing (NLP) problems using Large Language Models (LLMs) and Transfer Learning. Further, he was a Research Assistant in the field of Automated Surgery Planning within the Research in Orthopedic Computer Science (ROCS) group at Balgrist University Hospital (2022) during his civilian service in Switzerland. He also worked on various smaller side projects on his own and has been on a journey with Tinystudio, a company he co-founded back in 2012.
Besides all this, Martin has started mixing music he finds interesting and is further trying to step into photography as well. You can find a sparse selection from his photographic archive on Instagram. He can also be found on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Telegram. If you want to reach him in a timely manner, good old email usually works best.
Education
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MSc — ETH Zurich
Computer Science
September 2019 – April 2022
Focus on Computer Vision, Deep Learning, Machine Perception, Machine Learning, and Deep Generative Modeling.
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BSc — University of Zurich (UZH)
Informatics
September 2015 – June 2019
Broad curriculum ranging from Software Engineering and Economics over to Physical Geography and Foundational Courses in Computer Science.
Work
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Research Assistant — ETH Zurich
Circular Engineering for Architecture (CEA)
January 2022 – present
Working with the CEA Lab on Large-Scale Spatio-Temporal Reconstruction and Volume Estimation problems using LiDAR data and Photogrammetry methods. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Catherine De Wolf
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Research Assistant (Civilian Service) — Balgrist University Hospital
Research in Orthopedic Computer Science (ROCS)
October 2022 – December 2022
ROCS is involved in various research areas related to the planning and execution of surgical procedures using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR). Supervised by Prof. Dr. Philipp Fürnstahl
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Teaching Assistant — ETH Zurich
Chair of Innovative and Industrial Construction
February 2022 – July 2022
Course: Introduction to Visual Machine Perception for Architecture, Construction, and Facility Management (ACFM). Lecture given by Dr. Iro Armeni
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Research Assistant — UZH
Chair for International Relations and Political Economy
February 2021 – January 2023
Applied Natural Language Processing (NLP) problems using Large Language Models (LLMs), Semantic Analysis, Information Retrieval, Transfer Learning, and Representation Learning. My research was part of the DISINTEGRATION project, funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Stefanie Walter
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Software Engineer
BSI Business Systems Integration AG, Zurich, CH
September 2017 – January 2018
Four month internship as a Software Engineer working mainly with Java EE, PostgreSQL, Spring Boot, and the Eclipse Scout Framework. Further continued to work part-time beside my BSc studies.
Projects
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rhymegen.xyz — Rhyme Generator
March 2023
Small sunday afternoon side project. A web-based client for generating badass rhyming couplets in any language: rhymegen.xyz. The rhyme generator is powered by a strong Large Large Model (LLM) from OpenAI (currently: text-davinci-003) and creates rhymes through careful prompt engineering.
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MSc Thesis at ETH Zurich
April 2022
Title: “Performance-Based Generative Design for Parametric Modeling of Engineering Structures Using Deep Conditional Generative Models”. In collaboration with Design++. Advisors: Dr. Michael Anton Kraus, Dr. Romana Rust, Prof. Dr. Siyu Tang.
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Menzha — watchOS App
February 2020
An App for watchOS to get the menus from the several cafeterias (i.e. mensas) around campus at ETH Zürich, UZH, and ZHdK right on your wrist. It's called Menzha.
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Tinystudio Bucher & Emmenegger
2012 — present
Co-Founder and Principal Partner of the digital agency Tinystudio, founded in 2012 and still taking on some projects from time to time up until today.
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BSc Thesis at UZH
May 2019
Title: “GENEVIZ: A Visual Tool for the Construction and Blockchain-based Validation of SFC Packages”. Paper (GECON 2019). GitHub Repo.
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Imhotepic — Multiplayer Board Game
June 2016
Imhotep, the Kosmos board game of the year 2016, was implemented as a multiplayer browser game together with five people at UZH. Here is a short Demo from a former recording.
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Hack Zurich
2016 / 2017 / 2018
Participated three times in a row at Hack Zurich, one of Europe's largest hackathons, together with Michael Ziörjen and Pascal Emmenegger. We got into the top 25 teams in 2017 and had the chance to present our iOS prototype, PeakPass, in front of the whole crowd.