Contemporary Swiss Wooden Architecture – Prix Lignum 1999Affentranger, Christoph F.

ABSTRACT

20 years ago building with wood in Switzerland was mainly a thing of expressing strong and clearly environmentalconvictions. It was great luck to architecture in Switzerland that a few young talented architects rediscovered the very aestheticaspects of wood as a building material. Early projects of Herzog & de Meuron, Peter Zumthor, Marianne Burkhalter &Christian Sumi and many others leaded within a few years to high attention of Swiss architecture, based mainly on buildingsin wood. Parallel to this there is an astonishing development of new products and building methods with wood. The beginningof this renaissance was mainly based on projects with no more than one floor and single family houses since fire regulationsdid not permit to use wood in any other case. This might surprises because Switzerland actually has a long tradition of buildingin wood. Oldest farmhouses still in use dating back to the 12th century. Like in other European countries modern buildingmethods with concrete and bricks have made building with wood to a minor thing. Due to great effort of Swiss wood industry,as a result of the environmental debate in the 80’s, due to the information campaign of Lignum, the Swiss wood informationcenter and thanks to very innovative engineers and architects there is a growing demand for wooden buildings today. Thechanges during the last 10 years have been made possible also by new fire regulations concerning multi storey buildings inwood. The aim of this paper is to give a short overlook on this developments and to present the three winning projects plus thefive special mentions of the Prix Lignum, an award for buildings and facades in wood in Switzerland, which was given in1999 first after 15 years.

CONTEMPORARY SWISS WOODEN ARCHITECTURE

Basel and the beginning of a new architecture

Two buildings in Basel, which got highly recognized in Switzerland during the 80s, marked the beginning of this renaissanceof wood in Swiss architecture. The one of this two is a conversion of a multi story living block at St. Alban-Tal by architectMichael Alder in 1987. A simple building, covered with wood, precisely designed and situated very traditional into thecontext. Michael Alder continued with this building a tradition of simple but still modern wooden buildings, which has itsroots in the end of the last and especially in the early years of this century. The other building of great interest was the livinghouse at the Hebelstrasse, designed by Herzog & de Meuron in 1988. With its backside to an old wall the three storey houseopens towards the courtyard. The shape of the columns and the way the building stands on a platform turns this house intofurniture. Both this houses opened with their clearness and simplicity a wide field of design, which at that time was in sharpcontrast to the international style of postmodernism.

Herzog & de Meuron, apartment house at Hebelstrasse, Basel, 1988

Peter Zumthor and the Canton of GraubündenAt the same time another, meanwhile internationallyarchitect did his first projects. Peter Zumthor who grewup in Basel and begun his career as a cabinet-maker,opened an office for architecture near Chur after workingfor the state in the field of protection of historicalmonuments. Among his early projects was a building forhis own office in 1986, followed by the covering overroman fundaments in Chur, also 1986 and the chapelSogn Benedegt in Somvitg in 1988. This buildingstogether with the philosophy behind them was not onlythe start of Zumthors international reputation, but alsothe reputation of building with wood as a sign of beingmodern.

A lot of young architects and engineers working for orwith Zumthor at that time opened up their own practice afew years later. Many of them are situated near Churwhich brought the whole area of the Canton ofGraubünden a widely recognition as an eldorado of goodcontemporary Swiss architecture. The remarkable thingis that this reputation is based mainly on buildings with wood where else for example the reputation of the school of Ticino inthe 60s and 70s was based on concrete and stone as materials. Just a few years later in 1991 the “Vereinigung kantonalerFeuerversicherungen”, a Swiss union of insurance companies for buildings, published new guide lines upon buildingmaterials. This leaded to new norms for building with wood which where published in 1997 [Lignum and SIA, 1997].

According to the new norms it is now possible tobuild (again) multi storey houses, public and private,in big parts or completely in wood, which was notpossible for a very long time before, except for singlefamily houses. At the moment there is research doneto find ways to fulfill the high standards of soundisolation demanded in Switzerland. There are alsoplans to do research on fire prevention to make itpossible to build up to five storey buildingscompletely in wood in a later stage.

Technical developmentsIn the early 80’s traditional skeleton and stud building methods were vefield of housing. Those among the carpenters using frame building systemexotic, although frames where in use since the 60’s. 10 years later the mbuildings where done in different types of frame constructions. The mchange was not the lower price but the possibility of prefabrication of larworkshops. This elements are put together to a house on the sight withdays. This makes the production independent of the weather conditiointensive use of computer-controlled machines and production processeslater frame building methods seems already a kind of old fashioned. multi-layer boards are available in such a high quality that it knitting floors out of beams seems not very efficient anymore. Beside this clear tmethods using wood like log or skeleton construction s (adapted in vacourse still in use. For larger one floor buildings for the industry wood whousing always very competitive. Glue lam beams and similar conscommon in Switzerland and there is a large amount of interesting projects

Covering of roman fundaments in Chur. Peter Zumthor, 1988.

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Prix Lignum 1999The results of the Prix Lignum, which was awarded insummer 1999, give a good overlook over the situation ofSwiss wooden architecture ten years after the pioneersfirst works. There were 185 projects turned in, publicprojects like schools as well as many industry halls,apartment houses, living estates, bridges and singlefamily houses.

The jury was forced to give the price to one of theentries but not to buildings not turned in or older than1990. The jury finally gave a shared award to threebuilding complexes, which each stands for a differentapproach in each a completely different surrounding.Awarded was a group of three buildings in the smallvillage Vrin high up in the alps, Canton Graubünden, byGion A. Caminada, architect, Vrin, built 1994-1999(engineers: Conzett, Bronzini, Gartmann, Chur and

Fanchini +Pérez, Bonaduz), a school building with a multi purpose hall in St.Peter, Canton Graubünden, by architect Conradin Clavuot, Chur, built 1998-1999 (engineers: Conzett, Bronzini, Gartmann, Chur) and the new buildings ofthe Swiss School of Engineering for the Wood Industry in Biel, Canton of Bern,by Marcel Meili and Markus Peter with Zeno Vogel, built in 1997-1999(engineers: Conzett, Bronzini, Gartmann, Chur).

The jury also gave four purchases: Living estate “Obere Widen” in Arlesheimnear Basel by Proplaning-AG Architekten with Miklos Berczelly and Pietro DiNatale, built 1998-1999, for the pavilion of the theater AmStramGram inGeneva by Alexandre Vaucher, built 1997, the bridge Val Tgiplat betweenTomils and Scheid, Canton of Graubünden, by Walter Bieler with Reto Zindel,built 1998 and for “A space for a picture” in the valley of Engadin by JachenKönz and Ludovica Molo, built 1997. A special award for the best facadeentirely in wood went to the restoration of the farmhouse Bäriwil near Greppen,Canton of Luzern, by Fredi Doetsch and Zita Cotti, built in 1997.

The Jury took big attention on good detailing, something very often overseen whenarchitects and engineers are using wood. At the same time the buildings shouldshow interesting technical solutions and be of a modern design.

Publications:

Affentranger, Christoph / von Büren, Charles / Hässig, Werner / Kolb, Josef / Schuppisser, Stefan, 2000. Prix Lignum –Bauten und Fassaden mit Holz / Constructions et facades en bois. Lignum (Hsg.), Baufachverlag, Dietikon 2000. ISBN 3-85565-247-3.Affentranger, Christoph 1999. Neue Magie eines alten Werkstoffes – Perspektiven und Tendenzen des Schweizer Holzbaues,Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 6. August 1999, p. 53.Lignum & SIA (editors) 1997. Brandschutz im Holzbau – SIA Dokumentation 83, Lignum, Zürich 1997.

Photos by Lignum, the architects and Ch. Affentranger

Christoph Affentranger Dipl. Arch. ETH/SIA / Grabenstrasse 28 / CH-6300 Zug (Switzerland)e-mail: caf@affentranger-architekt.ch / www.affentranger-architekt.chMember of the jury of Prix Lignum. Architect / Publicist.

Bridge Val Tgiplat by Walter Bieler and Reto Zindel, 1998.

Living estate “Obere Widen” in Arlesheim near Basel by Proplaning-AG Architekten

School building with a multi purpose hall in St. Peter, Graubünden, 1998-1999

Architects: Conradin Clavuot, ChurEngineers: Conzett, Bronzini, Gartmann, Chur

New building for Swiss school of Engineering for the Timber Industry, Biel, Canton of Bern, 1997-1999

Architects: Marcel Meili and Markus Peter with Zeno Vogel,Engineers: Conzett, Bronzini, Gartmann, Chur

Stables and Slaughter house of the farmers union Mazlaria, Vrin, Graubünden, 1994-1999

Architects: Gion A. CaminadaEngineers: Conzett, Bronzini, Gartmann, Chur and Fanchini +Pérez, Bonaduz