arquitectura zona cero: SWISS ARCHITECTURE [part 2]

Max Bill, Hoschschule für Gestaltung (HfG) in Ulm

In 2001 AV magazine published a special issue, 89^th, dedicated to the recent Swiss Architecture under the title Swiss Matter. Two introductory articles, one of them of the tandem formed by Jacques Lucan and Martin Steinmann –a dialogue mode- and other by Justo Isasi, shelled the Swiss architectural scene; Isasi spiced the subsequent presentation of recent works about different authors of the confederation, with a direct reference to the expressive materiality of their work through the use of four basic materials (textures rather): concrete, wood, metal and glass. Compared to the previous publication, in 1995, which consisted in a brief account of six authors, the new list was completed with the work of thirteen architects (or firms of architects) that heralded the excellent average quality of the overall architectural production despite the limited geographical area of the sample. To the names of renowned authors at the time of publication such as Herzog & de Meuron, Diener & Diener and Gigon/Guyer, other, already announced in the previous 2G, are added: Gion A. Caminada and Bearth + Deplazes.

In this relation the work of important authors is shown as with couple formed by Silvia Gmür and Livio Vachini, and, in the case of the latter, he is essentially joined to the origins of Swiss contemporary architecture with his buildings in the Ticino´s area. This is an architect widely published that, in the studied number, amaze us again with a small-scale work, impeccably made, three villas designed as an embedded object in the landscape of northern Switzerland.

From the list above, I feature three duets that live and work in the French-speaking area, the Suisse Romande: Miller&Maranta, Galetti&Matter and Devanthéry& Lamunière, whose subsequent career will have immediate recognition of European publications, plus other prizes . The first two presented recent examples of school architecture; concretely two schools, one of them in Basel -Miller & Maranta- and the other one in Collombey (Canton of Valais) -Galetti & Matter-. Two different environments for two similar programs: an urban setting in the Volta School and other that is purely rural, which is, also, an extension of an existing center.With the perspective that offers the rereading of these buildings over time, it can be concluded that the two works presented are notable examples of this modest typology, to which will join other of superb execution and that the interested reader can go shelling on the Spanish publication Temas de Arquitectura, edited by Ediciones Generales de Arquitectura, that continuously presents –in the issues intended to School Architecture- prominent examples of this typology that the latest Swiss architecture offers us.

Max Bill´s serigraph

Three years later, in 2004, the 2G magazine presents, in a double issue, the walking of the Swiss architect Max Bill. This author who curiously has not been referenced in virtually any of the "classic" texts of modern architectural historiography, surprised both by the quality of some of his works as by the coral nature of his production that is not limited simply to the “built fact”. Architect, sculptor, painter and ideologue born in 1908 in Winterthur (canton of Zurich), and direct student at the Bauhaus in Dessau of another notable Swiss, Hannes Meyer who succeeded Walter Gropius as director of the school, and that was the main bearer of the current known as the "New Objectivity", which toured Central Europe and the Netherlands in the years before the Second World War. With the dissolution of the Bauhaus, following the rise to power of National Socialism, the German architectural ideology found a good defense, in northern Switzerland, by the hand of Max Bill, and other architects, through the Swiss Neues Bauen as well as the legacy of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe.

From the work that presents the Max Bill issue it should be noted a realization of 1950‑1955: the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) in Ulm. A school ensemble consisting of workshops and dormitories, following the trail of the Gropius Bauhaus (1925-1926) based on the articulation of the three functional principles: "working", "dwelling" and "community" united by isolated blocks by means of a corridor. The system used remembers, too, that which was used years ago by Hannes Meyer in his masterpiece: the Federal Professional School ADBG Bernau (1928-1930). The extensive use of concrete as a material that is part of both the structural solution and the wrapper, along with the importance given to the path that serves as a link between different isolated pieces subtly arranged into the landscape, they make that the stop in the work of this architect it be highly recommended for the analysis of contemporary Swiss architecture.

Another of the reference publications in our country: El Croquis has gone offering us for years, and in instalments, the cream of Swiss Architectural scene. From the first number, the 60th, which was published round about 1993, and dedicated to, at that time, promises of the international scene: Herzog & de Meuron, the Spanish publisher has gone stringing one after another, several issues dedicated to follow the Swiss superestudio work. The 60^th was followed by a new monograph, the 84^th, and since then deliveries have come to light with double issues; which suggests the importance and also the amount of production of the Swiss tandem. The last published issue (152-153) gathers the achievements and projects in the most recent phase of H&M: from 2005 to 2010 which, combined with the above, it catalogs, virtually and globally, all studio production that elapses from 1983 to 2010 (17 years, no less). In addition to H&M such as first swords of worldwide architecture, El Croquis has devoted its production to show, also, the work of various Swiss architects over the years. Of these, two numbers have been dedicated to the office of Zurich formed by Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer. On the importance -not only European but worldwide- of the work of these two Swiss architects, the publisher has approached its production twice with the numbers 102 and 143 (2000 and 2008 respectively).

Valerio Olgiati, Paspels School

More recently, and continuing the line that began with the previous two teams, El Croquis has continued showing to the world the work of various Swiss architects, in particular, Christian Kerez (145) and Valerio Olgiati (156). These two authors are, today, the spearhead of the Swiss architecture, with a work of personal character that, in both cases, is explained from a strong position in relation to “the architectural fact”. More given to the controversy and become unwittingly in l'enfant terrible (a bit overgrown) of the Swiss architectural scene, Olgiati surprises us on every project, but ‑and this is inevitable, even for him- his name is joined an essential work such as the Paspels School. Arranged as an object in the landscape, and without contextual relationship therewith, displays all the resources that, in same way, identify this type of architecture: its strict geometry, the concrete plasticity that define both the exterior and interior, the absolute compositional freedom of the holes that are cut in terse stone planes and the use of the pitched roof the only concession to rigorous environmental surrounding.

Valerio Olgiati, Paspels School

Christian Kerez, School in Leutschenbach, Zurich
Assambly of the stucture

Kerez is another matter. Whether, and in the above publications, he only appeared referenced in 2G, in the edition of El Croquis devoted solely to his work trip, this will become an initiatory one that, surely, we will return in later times. Author of a brief work, besides photographer, he shows an extreme ability to present their works a sort of synthesis that leaves the building practically naked; free from what he considers accessory; for instance two residential proposals: apartments in Forsterstrasse in Zurich (1993-2003) and the indescribable (for the sublime) single wall house, also in Zurich (2004-2007).

However, the work which defines –al least for now- the trajectory of this relatively young architect is, undoubtedly, his Leutschenbach School in Zurich (2002‑009), curiously another sample of school type, as also occurred with some architects named above. The "stacking" of the uses for plants; the careful organization of functions; the extraordinary structural concept of the building, placed at the service of a concept of total architecture, defined by the Kerez itself as global, architectural and spatial, what results a work called to become a reference both school types and contemporary architecture.