Schweizweit
We write this text as an answer to three specific questions thrown by SAM to us, amongst many other architects. SAM asked us to pick one vernacular / anonymous building, one actual project by another architect (since 1990) and one project from ourselves. Each should come with a short description, project name, architect, place, date and photographer.
We found a common narrative in the three questions, a connecting path around a main question: what is Swiss architecture? What has been / is / will be? We wanted to answer with a a strong narrative too, and do it within our context: Miquel was born and studied in Barcelona, and Hans was born in Belgium and studied in Lausanne and Zurich. Together, they run a Basel office. We don’t find this an extraordinary thing, on the contrary, we see it all around. Therefore we decided to work with Petr Kharaptovich, a Russian photographer Based in Basel, to create a unitary image language, as we have a unitary written language.
Texts and Photographs build together a story, each of them within its territory. We didn’t want narrative images: each media has its own language, and its own precision. They can be read as independent stories: either each image with its text, either all the texts or all the images. But we think that all together can answer better the question. A way of understanding something, is trying to see it from the outside, from the distance: we tried to identify the dates given by SAM as moments where of Swiss architecture was perceived from abroad, and see how this moments answered the core question.
Which vernacular building or spatial situation do you find inspiring for your approach to architecture?
Around 1845 is said that tourism met Switzerland, that gained an international position within the new cultural class by exporting its breathtaking landscapes and the ways of wandering through them. We like to imagine the mountain paths as a primary form of architecture, of marking space. A space, the mountains, that has still not been overcome by any architect. Mountain Eiger; nature¿?; Grindelwald (BE); photo Petr Kharaptovich, 2016
Which current project by another architect do you find seminal in this respect?
Around the end of XX century, the generation of Herzog & de Meuron (but not only them) brilliantly exported a refined architecture to the rest of the world. This confirmed Switzerland not only as a place of beautiful mountains but also as a place that was pushing (and keeps pushing) forward the boundaries of the architectural culture.119 central signal box; Herzog & de Meuron; Basel (BS); photo Petr Kharaptovich, 2016
Which of your projects do you consider the most relevant for recent architecture production in Switzerland?
At the beginning of XXI century a generation of Swiss architects (our generation), with a worldwide background and multicultural offices, creates architecture for a changing Swiss reality, trying to offer appropriate answers to the specific context without loosing track of the international cultural progress. If we succeed, we will keep alive this story of 150 years of cultural export… 017 Parterre, detail; FOCKETYN DEL RIO STUDIO; Basel (BS); photo Petr Kharaptovich, 2016
