Understanding Swiss national identity through recent architecture in the Graubunden

Thinking Outside The BoxReading ‘Swissness’ through recent residential architecture in the Graubünden

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of M.Arch 2010

RALPH KENT

Thinking Outside The Box: Reading ‘Swissness’ through recent residential architecture in the Graubünden

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ABSTRACT

Through the analysis of Swiss literature and art, this dissertation paints a cultural, political and socio-

economic picture of ‘Swissness’ that goes beyond the standard national stereotype of precision and

austerity. After identifying a broader set of distinguishing national and regional traits, the dissertation

explains how those factors manifest themselves in contemporary Swiss architecture.

To test the hypothesis that ‘Swissness’ exists and is perceptible in architecture, eight recent residential

case study projects in the Graubünden region have been analysed.

The dissertation concludes by questioning whether Swiss architecture deserves to be so widely lauded,

once the platform on which it is predicated has been fully taken into consideration.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Rhian Thomas of DRU-w for her guidance, insights and encouragement throughout this study.

Thank you also:

– The Brothers of the Monastery of Disentis, particularly Brother Martin and Brother Niklaus, who

generously gave their time in August 2009 to show my girlfriend and me around the Girls’

Dormitory by Gion Caminada and their new stable block, currently under construction;

– The publisher Quart in Lucerne, for their excellent quality publications on recent and emerging

Swiss architects; and

– The Swiss Embassy in London for the series of DVDs on Swiss Architecture and accompanying

book.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................................2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................................................................3

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................4

1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................7

1.1 Statement of Aim............................................................................................................................7

1.2 Structure and Methodology ............................................................................................................7

1.3 Topic rationale................................................................................................................................8

2. DEFINING CRITICAL REGIONALISM .................................................................................................10

2.1 Regionalism cf. critical regionalism................................................................................................10

2.2 Critical Regionalism in Switzerland................................................................................................11

3. ESSENCES AND ORIGINS OF ‘SWISSNESS’....................................................................................12

3.1 The formation of the Swiss Confederation ....................................................................................12

3.2 United in diversity .........................................................................................................................12

3.3 The Swiss as a ‘special case’ .......................................................................................................13

3.4 Neutrality, World War II and bunker mentality................................................................................14

3.5 Continuity: The Swiss as custodians of tradition ...........................................................................16

3.6 ‘Spielwitz’ as a counterpoint to law-abidingness...........................................................................18

3.7 Conclusions on ‘Swissness’ .........................................................................................................19

4. GRAUBUNDEN LIVING.....................................................................................................................20

4.1 Background to the Graubünden ...................................................................................................20

4.2 Self-sufficiency and introversion....................................................................................................22

4.3 Religion, Mysticism & Folklore.......................................................................................................24

4.4 Conclusions on Graubünden Living ..............................................................................................25


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5. THE MANIFESTATION OF ‘SWISSNESS’ AND ‘GRAUBÜNDERNESS’ AS ARCHITECTURE .............26

5.1 Beyond The Swiss Box.................................................................................................................26

5.2 Continuity: Modernism as a continuation of tradition.....................................................................27

5.3 Forme Forte – the architectural manifestation of a need for security ..............................................30

5.4 Gestalt – wholeness and indivisibility.............................................................................................33

5.6 Spielwitz & Mysticism ...................................................................................................................36

5.7 Education: ETH Zurich reinforcing Swissness ...............................................................................37

5.8 Conclusions on the manifestation of ‘Swissness’ and ‘Graubünderness’ as architecture ..............40

6. APPRAISING ARCHITECTURE AS IDENTITY: METHODOLOGY........................................................41

6.1 Analysis Framework......................................................................................................................41

6.2 The Case Study Buildings.............................................................................................................43

6.3 Basis for selection ........................................................................................................................45

7A. HAUS MEULI IN FLASCH BY BEARTH & DEPLAZES ......................................................................46

7A.1 Description.................................................................................................................................46

7A.2 Analysis......................................................................................................................................48

7B. HAUS WILLIMANN-LOTSCHER IN SEVGEIN BY BEARTH & DEPLAZES ........................................51

7B.1Description..................................................................................................................................51

7B.2 Analysis......................................................................................................................................53

7C. HOUSE FOR A MUSICIAN, SCHARANS BY VALERIO OLGIATI ......................................................55

7C.1 Description ................................................................................................................................55

7C.2 Analysis .....................................................................................................................................57

7D. GIRLS’ BOARDING HOUSE IN DISENTIS BY GION CAMINADA .....................................................60

7D.1 Description.................................................................................................................................60

7D.2 Analysis .....................................................................................................................................62


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7E. HAUS LUZI IN JENAZ BY PETER ZUMTHOR ..................................................................................64

7E.1 Description.................................................................................................................................64

7E.2 Analysis......................................................................................................................................66

7F. GARTMAN HOUSE IN CHUR BY PATRICK GARTMANN.................................................................68

7F.1 Description .................................................................................................................................68

7F.2 Analysis ......................................................................................................................................69

7G. HAUS RASELLI-KALT IN POSCHIAVO BY CONRADIN CLAVUOT .................................................71

7G.1 Description ................................................................................................................................71

7G.2 Analysis .....................................................................................................................................72

7H. EXTENSION TO VILLA GARBALD IN CASTASEGNA BY MILLER & MARANTA ...............................74

7H.1 Description ................................................................................................................................74

7H.2 Analysis .....................................................................................................................................77

8. CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................................................................80

BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................................................82

APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................89

Sketchbook notes, Vrin, 14 August 2009 ...........................................................................................89

Biographies of the architects of the case study houses ......................................................................90

Font....................................................................................................................................................93


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1. INTRODUCTION

Like many architecture students, since early in my undergraduate studies I have admired the jewel-like

buildings by Swiss architects such as Bearth & Deplazes, Caminada and Olgiati. Spending a portion of

my year living in France within 50 kilometres of the Swiss border, I journeyed to these Alpine architectural

gems, lying hidden in the deep valleys of the Graubünden.

I became interested in the factors that had acted as inspiration for these quiet, well-detailed buildings:

what had the generators of their elemental forms been? How had topography and climate influenced the

design? Above all, how had socio-economic, educational, and cultural influences contributed to their

genesis - what is it about these buildings that makes them read as undeniably Swiss?

1.1 Statement of Aim

The title of this dissertation alludes to the intention to paint a picture of ‘Swissness’ beyond the ‘Swiss

Box’ – that is, a deeper understanding of Swiss society through examining its architecture than simply

equating well-detailed, reliable, efficient, orthogonal volumes as an easy metaphor for Swiss precision

and austerity.

The hypothesis is that the quality and ‘quietness’ – even their external form and internal organisation of

the case study buildings owes a significant amount to Switzerland’s peculiar political status - particularly

in the field of foreign policy. This has been brought to the fore in mainstream news in recent months

following the Swiss people’s vote on 27 November 2009 to ban any further construction of minarets.1

Once the complex and largely unique nature of Switzerland’s socio-economic framework is understood

as a key driver for these residential designs, it may lead the reader to reappraise these buildings – not for

what they are as well-detailed, standalone buildings - but for what values that they might be reaffirming.

1.2 Structure and Methodology

This dissertation starts by briefly explaining the theory and significance of critical regionalism. In chapter

3, it identifies cultural, social and economic characteristics that are largely unique to Switzerland -

‘Swissness’. This is largely achieved through the analysis of quotes from Swiss literature - how the Swiss

critique themselves. Consequently, there are – deliberately - a significant number of citations by Swiss

luminaries about Swiss life in order to provide a rich, varied, and balanced portrayal of ‘Swissness’

through Swiss eyes.

1 Imogen Foulkes, Swiss Voters Back Ban On Minarets (London: BBC News, 29 November 2009)

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8385069.stm> [accessed 1 December 2009].


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Regional factors influencing life in the Graubünden are then

introduced in chapter 4; topography and climate bring real

physical demands to residential designs, whilst its alpine

location, at the meeting point between Northern European

Protestantism and Mediterranean Catholicism introduces

other social and cultural implications.

Chapter 5 explores the architectural consequences of

‘Swissness' and ‘Graubünderness’. This chapter also explains

the influence of education at ETH Zurich, Switzerland’s pre-

eminent school of architecture.

The analysis framework against which eight recent residential

projects in the Graubünden are tested for evidence of national

and regional identity is set out in chapter 6, and the case study buildings are analysed in turn against

these criteria in chapter 7. As part of the research for this dissertation, the author visited six out of the

eight case study buildings during the summer of 2009.

1.3 Topic rationale

1.3.1 Rationale for Residential Architecture

Martin Heidegger asserted in his lecture on the concept and essence of architecture: ‘The way that you

are and I am, the way that we as human beings are on this earth, is architecture, is dwelling’.3

This dissertation focuses on commissioned, architecturally designed, residential architecture as it is,

generally, more personal and expressive of an individual’s needs and character traits than a public or

commercial building. This should potentially, therefore, allow for a cultural reading of nation and region.

1.3.2 Rationale for Switzerland: Heidi & Homesickness

Switzerland lies at the heart of Europe but is not a EU member state. It is a ‘neutral’ confederation of 26

cantons, a nation of 7.6 million people4 that still moves to its own rhythm. In a globalising world keen to

embrace the latest innovation capturing the zeitgeist, Steven Spier, in his book ‘Swiss Made’, points out

that Switzerland is one of a handful of countries that appear to have taken a conscious decision to

2 Author’s illustration.

3 Bettina Schlorhaufer and Gion A. Caminada, Cul zuffel e l'aura dado (Lucern: Quart, 2005), p.7.

4 Geography: Facts and Figures (Swissworld: Your Gateway to Switzerland)

<http://www.swissworld.org/en/geography/swiss_geography/facts_and_figures/> [accessed 23 October 2009].

Figure 1. Methodology – diagram2


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approach modernity within a framework of continuity from history.5 Accordingly, it seems appropriate to

analyse cultural and social themes in Switzerland than in other countries that have found their identities

more forcefully disrupted by the ravages of war or rapid technological progress and globalisation.

In ‘Vernacular Modernism’ Huppauf and Umback define ‘Heimat’ as ‘the longing for a home’.6

With Heidi, Johanna Spyri created a monument to the Helvetian myth of nature and homeland… Heimat, the physical and spiritual home of the Swiss… naïveté and simplicity, religion and nature, health and fresh clean air – the withdrawal of these fundamental values exposes Heidi to a disease that was practically invented by the Swiss – homesickness or “Maladie Suisse”.7

The architects of the case study buildings were born and raised within Switzerland. The hypothesis is

that the idiosyncrasies and peculiarities of ‘Swissness’ will have left some mark on them as they grew up

and received their professional training, and that this may be evidenced in their architecture.

1.3.3 Rationale for the Graubünden

The Graubünden canton (also called the Grisons) is a rugged, otherworldly region, situated in the Swiss

Alps. The historian Erwin Poeschel, in his study of town houses in the Graubünden, wrote: ‘The Grisons

[is] a reflection of Switzerland in miniature, the types, the economic conditions, the local sensitivities and

their expression’.8

The Graubünden is the meeting point of German-speaking Switzerland and the Italian-speaking Ticino, a

junction of nations and religions. It is ‘united in mystical communion thanks to the genius loci’9 but is

gradually becoming increasingly well connected to a globalised world through improved road networks,

mobile telephony and the Internet. Many Alpine regions now have become heavily reliant on tourism,

meaning traditional skills are lost and culture becomes influenced by global factors. The Graubünden,

however, with its deep, narrow valleys, with a single main road in and out, remains a rare example within

Continental Europe where small communities still exist largely unfettered and uninfluenced by the wider

world and mass consumerism.

5 Steven Spier with Martin Tschanz, Swiss Made: New Architecture from Switzerland (London: Thames & Hudson, 2003), p.7.

6 Umbach and Huppauf (eds.), Vernacular Modernism, Stanford, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005), p.11.

7 Peter Zumthor with Plinio Bachmann ... [et al.], edited by Roderick Hönig, Swiss Sound Box (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2000), p.107.

8 Valentin Bearth, Andrea Deplazes, and Heinz Wirz (ed.), Bearth & Deplazes, Konstrukte / Constructs (Lucern, Quart, 2005), p.155.

9 Bruno Reichlin. ‘When Architects Build In the Mountains’, in 2G: Construir en las montañas : arquitectura reciente en los Grisones

= Building in the mountains : recent architecture in Graubünden, ed. by Moises Puente and Lluis Ortega, vol. 2, no. 14 (Barcelona,

Gustavo Gili, 2000), pp.132-146 (p.132).


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2. DEFINING CRITICAL REGIONALISM

This dissertation is interested in the architectural consequences of cultural, political and social identity

within a nation (Switzerland) and a region (the Graubünden). These are key tenets within the theory of

critical regionalism.

The term ‘critical regionalism’ appears to have been first employed by Kenneth Frampton in 1983 in his

text ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance’.

2.1 Regionalism cf. critical regionalism

Critical regionalism evolved out of a response to Brutalist Modernism in the 1960s and 1970s and other

architecture regarded as anonymous, or ‘place-less’. Critical regionalism seeks to attain an architecture

that is sensitive to its region, both in terms of physical factors, and also cultural, socio-economic and

political influences. Importantly, critical regionalism is not the replication of traditional local vernacular

typologies.

In this sense, ‘critical regionalism’ is different to ‘regionalism’. Regionalism emphasises the vernacular,

without any engagement with external, or global factors – what the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur in

his text ‘History and Truth’ refers to as the ‘universal’. Frampton believes that the unquestioning

emulation of vernacular styles, without any form of critical appraisal or adaptation will ultimately lead to a

‘scenographic’10 representation of place.

Critical regionalism involves reflection and self-analysis, meaning that ‘placeness’ is not perpetuated in a

pastiche or sentimental fashion, but through continuous appraisal of what a region and its people

represent. Critical regionalism involves adopting the relevant parts of ‘universal’ society whilst at the same

time respecting lessons from local culture, traditions and topography. Frampton frames it thus: ‘critical

regionalism will mediate the spectrum between universal civilization and the particularities of place’.11

Ricoeur surmises the essence of the problem posed by critical regionalism as: ‘how to become modern

and to return to sources; how to revive an old, dormant civilization and take part in universal civilization’. 12

10 Kenneth Frampton, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance’, in The Anti-Aesthetic. Essays

on Postmodern Culture, ed. by Hal Foster (New York: New Press, 1983), pp. 17-34 (p.19).

11 Scott Patterson, A Critical Analysis of “Towards a Critical Regionalism”

<http://home.earthlink.net/~aisgp/texts/regionalism/regionalism.html> [accessed 18 October 2009].

12 Paul Ricoeur, History and Truth (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1965), pp. 276-7.


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2.2 Critical Regionalism in Switzerland

In ‘Prospects for a Critical Regionalism’, Frampton explains how the intricate linguistic and cultural

borders of Switzerland means that it ‘has always displayed strong regionalist tendencies, ones which

have often assumed a critical nature’.13 He goes on to say that ‘one of the mainsprings of regionalist

culture is an anti-centrist sentiment – an aspiration for some kind of cultural, economic and political

independence’.14 Paul Ricoeur argues that regional culture has become ‘something which [must] be self-

consciously cultivated’.15

In the following chapter, this dissertation will attempt to demonstrate that by virtue of its foreign policy

and its alpine topography, Switzerland operates as a ‘quasi-island state’ within Europe; meaning that no

such ‘conscious cultivation’ is required to sustain Swiss critical regionalism. Later, in the case studies,

this dissertation will demonstrate how this regional culture is being continually reinforced through the

feedback mechanism of architecture.

13 Kenneth Frampton, ‘Prospects for a Critical Regionalism’ in Perspecta 20 (1983), pp. 147-162 (p.156).

14 Ibid., p.148.

15 Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture: A Critical History, (London, Thames & Hudson, 1992), p.315.


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3. ESSENCES AND ORIGINS OF ‘SWISSNESS’

This chapter identifies unifying qualities that distinguish the Swiss from other nations and cultures through

the analysis of Swiss literature, philosophy and art.

3.1 The formation of the Swiss Confederation

The foundation of modern Switzerland – the Confederation of Switzerland - was laid down in the 1848

constitution, with the formation of a centralised government and creation of a single economic area.17

Since the creation of the Canton of Jura in 1978, Switzerland has comprised 20 full cantons and six half-

cantons (states). Each canton retains its own

government, parliament and law courts. The

confederation is only responsible for foreign

affairs, security, and finances.18

The four national languages are German (63.3%),

French (19.2%), Italian (7.6%) and Rhaeto-

Romanic, also known as Romansch (0.6%).19

Romansch speakers live mainly in the region

where the case study houses are located.

3.2 United in diversity

During the Seville World Expo, word-artist Ben

Vautier wrote on the wall of the Swiss Pavilion:

‘La Suisse n’éxiste pas!... Switzerland does not

exist!’.20 This phrase quintessentially sums up the

problems of a nation not historically united by culture or topography but by political will. As a

confederation of regions, some commentators believe that it is difficult – or even impossible - to identify

‘Swissness’.

16 Roger Diener ... [et al.], Switzerland : An Urban Portrait (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2006), p.54.

17 History: General Overview of the Federal State, (Swissworld: Your Gateway to Switzerland)

<http://www.swissworld.org/en/history/the_federal_state/general_overview/> [accessed 12 October 2009].

18 Peter Zumthor with Plinio Bachmann ... [et al.], edited by Roderick Hönig, Corps Sonore Suisse (Basel: Birkhauser, 2000), p.39.

19 Zumthor, Swiss Sound Box, p.169.

20 Ibid., p.127.

Figure 2. Switzer land l ies at the heart of Europe but is not an EU member16


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The Swiss themselves are sometimes puzzled about what they have in common apart from their

passport, what it is that makes them Swiss. Government agencies like Swissworld say the Swiss are held

together by the desire to stay united - the general attitude is summed up as: ‘unity, but not uniformity’.22

3.3 The Swiss as a ‘special case’ As part of their educational material on their website to help non-Swiss understand the national mindset,

Swissworld published:

[The Swiss] have long seen themselves as a "special case". No one who discusses the Swiss national identity can escape from this idea. It is attacked and mocked by left-wing intellectuals, who accuse their fellow-countrymen of being self-satisfied and backward-looking, and having what they call a "hedgehog mentality" – rolling up into a ball to protect themselves against the outside world, which they would rather ignore. When such intellectuals call into question some of Switzerland's actions and attitudes, they are frequently accused by their opponents of "soiling the nest”.23

21 Swiss Statistics (Federal Department of Statistics)

<http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/regionen/thematische_karten/maps/bevoelkerung/sprachen_religionen.html>

[accessed 8 October 2009].

22 Culture: What is Swissness? (Swissworld: Your Gateway to Switzerland)

<http://www.swissworld.org/en/culture/swissness/what_is_swissness/> [accessed 12 October 2009].

23 Culture: Mountains and Hedgehogs (Swissworld: Your Gateway to Switzerland)

<http://www.swissworld.org/en/culture/swissness/mountains_and_hedgehogs/> [accessed 8 August 2009].

Figure 3. Languages spoken in Switzer land by commune21 - green represents French, red for German, blue Ita l ian and the yel low, Romansch.


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It therefore seems that the Swiss generally do view themselves as possessing unique, privileged

character traits, which are further explored and explained below.

3.4 Neutrality, World War II and bunker mentality

Switzerland's saint, Nicholas of Flüe (1417-87) said: ‘Don't get involved in other people's affairs’, and this

has been the hallmark of Swiss policy for nearly 500 years. The country has been neutral since 1515.24

Consecutive Swiss Governments have argued that this neutrality is a pre-requisite for a nation that is the

home to many organisations such as the Red Cross and the WHO. Others accuse Switzerland of

cowardice, hiding behind the veil of neutrality to protect its own interests. Swissworld recounts a quote

by Heinz Helbling (1928 - ), who worked as a Swiss dairyman in New Zealand between 1951-54:

We got to talking about Switzerland, the Second World War and our neutrality... “I don't know anything about politics,” said our host, “but there's something not right. New Zealand went voluntarily to the aid of the mother country, England, to save Europe from destruction. Switzerland was there in the middle. What happened? My two boys were killed, one at Al Alamein, and one in Italy, on your doorstep, 12,000 miles from home. And now you have come from the middle of Europe to work in our dairy and on my farm, where my two sons should be working. There's something not right about that.” Later, whenever talk in Switzerland got round to our neutrality, I always remembered this scene, and I can still hear the New Zealander saying: “There's something not right about that”.26

When travelling around Switzerland, visitors may be surprised by the number

of Swiss who still maintain that the reason Hitler never invaded Switzerland

was due to the mountainous terrain and the Swiss territorial army.

Many Swiss are proud that in spite of their small numbers, they have always been ready to resist powerful neighbours, from the Habsburgs to Hitler. Had the Germans invaded during World War II the Swiss had contingency plans to destroy bridges, block tunnels, and conduct resistance from an impregnable redoubt in the central mountains.27

The reality is generally accepted that Switzerland was far more useful to Germany as a ‘neutral’

communications route, allowing goods to pass through from Italy and Jewish money to be secreted in

24 Politics – Foreign Policy: Neutrality and Isolationalism (Swissworld: Your Gateway to Switzerland)

<http://www.swissworld.org/en/politics/foreign_policy/neutrality_and_isolationism/> [accessed 7 September 2009].

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.



Figure 4. Are Swiss sons to be sacri f iced in other people's affairs? asked

this poster in a 2001 referendum25


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numbered Swiss bank accounts by the Nazis.28 45% of Swiss exports between 1940 and 1942 went to

Italy or Germany,29 helping those countries continue their war efforts. There was no reason for Hitler to

increase his war front by invading Switzerland.

The extent to which Switzerland was spared [the destruction of World War 2]… is miraculous. This belief in miracles is also the elixir of life nourishing the national myth of Switzerland as a “special case”; only the Swiss consider the miracle their just reward for superior industriousness. One could have realised that not only were considerable political and tactical skill on the part of the national government in play during the war…. But this insight did not come until… it was laid open for all to see by the Independent Commission of Experts Switzerland – Second World War.30

Testimony to the extent that the Swiss believe that they could carry on without the rest of the world, since

1960, under Swiss law, local governments are required to provide nuclear bunker shelter spaces for

everyone.31 Reflecting the ‘the Swiss people’s highly developed need for security’32 there are now over a

quarter of a million nuclear bunkers across Switzerland,33 incredible, really, when compared to its

population of 7.6 million people.

In the vast Sonnenberg shelter, with capacity for 20,000 in the event of a thermo-nuclear apocalypse;

there are vast sleeping quarters, with bunk beds four layers deep. There is an operating theatre, a command post, and as Mr Fischer points out, a prison. ‘Just because there's a nuclear war outside doesn't mean we won't have any socia l problems in here’.34

Remarkably, during early designs for the shelter, a post office had been included in the plans, until

someone helpfully raised the question of who the recipients would actually be.

28 Switzerland (Australia: The Daily Telegraph) <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/travel/world/destination/history/switzerland>

[accessed 10 October 2009].

29 Politics – Foreign Policy – The Swiss Economy in World War II: Neutrality and Isolationalism (Swissworld: Your Gateway to

Switzerland) <http://www.swissworld.org/en/history/the_20th_century/the_swiss_economy_in_world_war_ii/> [accessed 10

October 2009].

30 Claude Lichtenstein, Playfully Rigid: Swiss architecture, graphic design, product design 1950-2006 (Baden : Lars Müller, 2007),

p.18.

31 Imogen Foulkes, Swiss still braced for nuclear war (London: BBC News, 10 February 2007)

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6347519.stm> [accessed 13 October 2009].

32 Lichtenstein, p.11.

33 Foulkes, ‘Swiss still braced for nuclear war’.

34 Ibid.


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3.5 Continuity: The Swiss as custodians of tradition

One of the key advantages of Switzerland’s neutrality is that it has

remained largely unscathed by the ravages of war. As such, there

is a clear, uninterrupted lineage between history and the present

day, something the majority of other European countries cannot

boast. There is a sense that today is part of future history from the

moment you arrive in Switzerland, from the advertising hoardings at

the airport politely reminding you that:

‘You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for

the next generation’.36 This continuity and tradition has been

fostered by three key factors:

1. Discretion – avant-gardism and egocentricity are frowned

upon in Switzerland. Regardless of status or wealth, there

is a strong desire to blend in, to not rock the boat. In a letter to his nephew, and old Genevan

banker describes the refined peculiarity of Swissness:

Et quand tu auras trois Bentley, comme ton père maintenant, nul, à part ton garagiste, ne devra être au courant de la chose: c’est pourquoi tu achèteras trois fois le même modèle.37

Which translates as: ‘When you have three Bentleys, like your father does now, no one, apart

from your mechanic, should know this; that’s why you should buy three of exactly the same

specification’.

2. Wealth - A corollary of its foreign policy and neutrality, and discretion, Switzerland has flourished

as a haven for private banking. Clearly high wealth makes it easier to preserve traditional

techniques and promote continuity, than when skills are being outsourced in a bid for lowest

cost possible production. Claude Lichtenstein says: ‘Switzerland [is] one of the richest countries

in the world [and] does not have to struggle with making things work’.38 The Italian writer Marcello

d’Orta wrote in a newspaper article in 1990:

35 Patek Phillippe corporate website <http://www.patek.com/patek-philippe.html?pageId=101&backgroundId=2&lang=en&>

[accessed 2 December 2009].

36 Ibid.

37 Zumthor, Corps Sonore Suisse, p.101.


Figure 5. Patek Phi l l ipe advert isement35


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Switzerland sells weapons to all over the world so it can gun them all down, but it never starts even a little war. With this money it builds the banks, But not good banks, the banks of the evil people... especially the ones addicted to drugs. The gangsters from Sicily and China bring their money there, their millions. The police go there, say whose money is this, I don’t know, I won’t tell you, that’s none of your bloody business, the bank is closed... the hospitals are wonderful, the carpet, the flowers, the clean stairs, not even a rat. But it is expensive, if you don’t smuggle you can’t go there.39

Figure 6. Switzer land as one of the world’s r ichest nat ions: GDP per capita (US$)40

3. Correctitude and austerity – In contrast to its laissez-faire approach to private banking, the Swiss

have an international reputation as being law-abiding. It could be argued that the respect for the

law is a by-product of Switzerland as a direct-democracy, with legislation able to be directly

influenced by its citizens.41

Sobriety, sense of order, control, mastery, correctitude, incorruptibility – these are, perhaps, several of the defining characteristics attributed to Switzerland (and it could be elaborated: to all parts of the country and to all four linguistics regions – French, Italian, Romansh, and German speaking Switzerland).42


40 World Economic Outlook Database April 2009, (IMF Data and Statistics)

<http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2007&ey=2014&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds

=.&br=1&pr1.x=72&pr1.y=7&c=193%2C122%2C132%2C134%2C146%2C112%2C136%2C111%2C158&s=NGDPDPC&grp=0&

a=#download> [accessed 1 October 2009].

41 Politics: Indirect and direct democracy (Swissworld: Your Gateway to Switzerland)

<http://www.swissworld.org/en/politics/peoples_rights/indirect_and_direct_democracy/> [accessed 2 December 2009].



18

The influence of legislation is wide-reaching, and occasionally verges on the absurd – in Switzerland you

need a permit to install a TV antenna, you cannot mow your lawn on a Sunday, and there are even rules

about when men are allowed to use the toilet standing up in older blocks of flats with poor acoustic

insulation – lest the noise disturb those in neighbouring properties!43 Despite the numerous and

prescriptive regulations about social conduct in Switzerland, they are rarely called upon. Civility towards

fellow man abounds across Switzerland and citizens appear highly attuned to not offending their

neighbours. ‘Permitted is what doesn't bother’ is the new motto of the Zurich police’.44

In ‘I’m Not Stiller’, the Swiss writer Max Frisch describes Stiller’s imprisonment in Switzerland:

My cell… is small, like everything in this country, so clean one can hardly breath for hygiene, and oppressively precise because everything is just right. No more, no less. Everything in this country is oppressively adequate. The cell is 10 feet long, 7 feet 10 inches wide and 8 feet 3 inches high. A humane prison, there’s no denying it, and that’s what makes it so unbearable. Not a cobweb, not a trace of mildew on the walls, nothing to justify indignation. Some prisons get stormed when people learn about them; here there’s nothing to storm.45

3.6 ‘Spielwitz’ as a counterpoint to law-abidingness

In his book ‘Playfully Rigid’, Lichtenstein identifies an interesting element of ‘Swissness’, for which he

coins the term ‘Spielwitz’.

Spielwitz…. contains the important elements of perspicacity, of discovering that which is hidden, of controlling circumstances, and of adeptness at dealing with rules… Spielwitz [is] a serum against pure correctitude. The French ‘ésprit’ comes close in meaning. It has to do with play and with the rules that designers give themselves. 46

So whilst the Swiss generally are law-abiding and fastidious, occasionally they like to play games within

the framework of rules.

Occasionally we encounter [spielwitz] in classical concert[s]…. when the musicians are able to free themselves of the musical score and not simply play the music as written but give it personal coloration and bring it to life. 47

43 Ronan McGreevy, Don't kiss the girlfriend in Dubai, don't flush a Swiss loo after 10pm and, whatever you do, don't insult the Thai

king (Dublin: Irish Independent, 17 March 2007) <http://www.independent.ie/travel/travel-advice/dont-kiss-the-girlfriend-in-dubai-

dont-flush-a-swiss-loo-after-10pm-and-whatever-you-do-dont-insult-the-thai-king-50357.html> [accessed 17 October 2009].

44 Ákos Moravánszky, ‘Ten Architects in Switzerland’, a+u 410 (November 2004), 12-17 (p.12).

45 Max Frisch, I’m Not Stiller (San Diego: Harcourt Publishers, 1994), p.13.


47 Ibid.


19

3.7 Conclusions on ‘Swissness’

Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (1878-1947), one of the most important authors from the French-speaking

part of Switzerland, wrote the following in a letter to Denis de Rougemont, published in the journal

L'Esprit on 1st October 1937:

The "Swiss" (if that word makes any sense, and I am using it solely to refer to the sum of individuals who belong to the political entity of Switzerland) are certainly orderly, careful and conscientious, but they are also petty-minded. They are active, but only within their own territory; they cut themselves off from the rest of the world for the sake of peace and quiet. And it could even be said that for this peace and quiet, which enables them to go about their own domestic affairs with such diligence and punctiliousness, they have sacrificed all those things which have brought renown to other nations.48

The origins of ‘Swissness’ stem from its peculiar status as a neutral ‘island state’. This neutrality has

engendered a bunker mentality amongst it citizens, a detachment from the outside world. It has also

therefore served to promote continuity and tradition.

Continuity has been able to flourish due to discretion – which has promoted private banking and wealth -

which allows for traditional crafts and high quality materials to remain viable - which in turn feeds back to

reinforce continuity. Continuity is further strengthened by general law-abidingness, albeit occasionally

mitigated by some playful ‘spielwitz’.

Finally, regarding the whole validity of ‘Swissness’ as a concept for a confederation of regions - the above

analysis of what the Swiss have said about themselves suggest that despite the variety, the common

national traits, underlined, apply across all the cantons and regions of Switzerland. This unity in diversity,

wholeness or gestalt, is explored further in chapter 5, followed by an analysis of the architectural

consequences of the above, emboldened, characteristics of ‘Swissness’.




20

4. GRAUBUNDEN LIVING

Owing to its remoteness and topography, on the scale of critical regionalism as set out by Paul Ricouer

between local craft and total universal civilisation, the Graubünden remains very much towards the local

end. In the middle of the 19th century, author and politician Heinrich Zschokke remarked that

Graubünden was ‘Switzerland within Switzerland’.49

Figure 7. The Graubünden in relat ion to Switzer land50

4.1 Background to the Graubünden

The Graubünden is the largest Canton of Switzerland by area and is located to the east of the country,

adjoining Liechtenstein, Austria and Italy. Its population is only around 190,000, of which 15% are

foreigners.51 The name is derived from ‘Drey Grawen Pundt’, referring to the grey garments of sheep’s

49 Canton Graubünden (ch.ch The Swiss Portal) <http://www.ch.ch/schweiz/01116/01118/01421/index.html?lang=en> [accessed

8 December 2009].

50 Large Map of the Graubünden (Wikimedia Commons)

<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karte_Lage_Kanton_Graub%C3%BCnden.png> [accessed 2 December 2009].

51 Canton Graubünden (ch.ch The Swiss Portal) <http://www.ch.ch/schweiz/01116/01118/01421/index.html?lang=en> [accessed

8 December 2009].


21

wool worn by famers there.52 It is almost entirely mountainous, with some of the deepest valleys in

Europe. Forests cover about a fifth of the area of the canton.53 Consequently, timber and stone are the

most prevalent building elements. The purpose of the canton, as set out in its constitution, is to:

…safeguard freedom, peace, and human dignity, […] promote prosperity and social justice and preserve a sane environment for the future generations, with the intention of promoting tri-lingualism and cultural variety and conserving them as part of our historical heritage.54

68% of the residents of the Graubünden speak German, largely around the cantonal capital of Chur, 15%

speak Romansch (centred around Disentis / Munster and Engadine) with the remainder to the south

speaking Italian.

52 Daniel Bosshard, Miguel Kreisler, Myriam Sterling and Meritxell Vaquer, ‘Graubünden, Anthology of data of place, things, and

people’, in 2G: Construir en las montañas : arquitectura reciente en los Grisones = Building in the mountains : recent architecture in

Graubünden, ed. by Moises Puente and Lluis Ortega, vol. 2, no.14 (Barcelona, Gustavo Gili, 2000), pp. 4-29 (p.19).

53 Regional Statistics for Graubünden (Federal Department of Statistics, 2008)

<http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/regionen/regionalportraets/graubuenden/blank/kennzahlen.html> [accessed 23

November 2009].

54 Constitution of the canton of Graubünden (Federal Authority of the Swiss Confederation)

<http://www.admin.ch/ch/i/rs/131_226/index.html] [accessed 2 December 2009].

55 Languages spoken in the Graubünden Canton (Wikimedia Commons)

<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Sprachen_GR_2000.png> [accessed 8 December 2009].

Figure 8. Map showing the languages spoken in the Graubünden by area. Yel low represents German, Light purple represents Ita l ian, Dark Purple, Romansch and hatched, bi l ingual communes55


22

4.2 Self-sufficiency and introversion

Owing to the alpine climate, Graubündeners have adapted to live alongside fierce nature, including

freezing conditions with heavy snow with the risk of avalanches in winter and intense sun in summer.

Although agriculture now only accounts for 8.5%57

of all jobs in the Graubünden region, it remains a

cultural mainstay. One of the most noticeable

things about the Swiss Alps is how well maintained

the pastures in Switzerland are compared to

neighbouring France. Mark Twain wrote in ‘A Tramp

Abroad’ in 1879, ‘Switzerland is simply a large,

humpy, solid rock with a thin skin of grass stretched

over it’.58

The reason for the manicured mountainsides in the

Graubünden is the highly attuned need for self-

sufficiency in farming and a strongly developed

organic / macrobiotic emphasis (cows are to be fed

using natural materials that are locally sourced).

Whilst the road network is being upgraded in the

Graubünden, there remains the very real risk of

being cut off or snowed-in. Consequently, there is a

need to harvest winter hay, regardless if this means

going out on slopes at an angle of almost 45

degrees on an August afternoon in temperatures of over 30° Celsius with only manual implements to

perform this duty.

Such self-sufficiency would appear to mirror in microcosm the point made in chapter 3 about Switzerland

as an island state and notions of independence and neutrality.

56 Author’s photograph, taken near Vrin in August 2009.

57 Key Data for the Graubünden (Federal Department for Statistics)

<http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/regionen/regionalportraets/graubuenden/blank/kennzahlen.html> [accessed 8

December 2009].


Figure 9. Manual haymaking on steep slopes of the Graubünden in the height of summer56


23

4.2.1 Nearness yet distance

Related to this need for self-sufficiency, the settlements are tightly packed. The reason is twofold – firstly

to provide security and proximity during the cold winter months, and secondly, so that the properties do

not encroach on the valuable productive agricultural land – a pattern which is reinforced by planning

legislation restricting the growth of villages to within a defined boundary. The influence of law, as set out

in chapter 3, surfaces again here.

The pattern that emerges in the Graubünden is a hamlet or small village, tightly grouped, typically at

intervals of 2-5 kilometres from the next. They are frequently located on the slope of the mountain, not

the valley floor, owing to the depth of the valleys running from south to north, which would mean the

settlement would receive little sunlight in winter.

Figure 10. Typical v i l lage patterns in the Graubünden59

59 Schlorhaufer and Caminada, pp.12-13.


24

4.3 Religion, Mysticism & Folklore

The architectural theorist Ákos Moravánszky has written:

Today, Swiss architectural theoreticians review their frameworks of interpretation [of Swiss German architecture] between Protestant and Mediterranean versions of rationality one being scientific and economic, the other more spiritual or innate.60

The meeting point of these two influences in Switzerland lies in the Graubünden, with Calvinist Protestant

influences from German-speaking Switzerland to the north interfacing with and the Roman Catholic

Church from the Italian-speaking Ticino, to the south.

Figure 11. Rel igion in the Graubünden61 Red represents predominantly Roman Cathol ic; Blue predominantly Protestant; Yel low, no dominant rel ig ion.

The awe-inspiring landscape of the Alps has also generated a significant element of myth and mysticism.

In the Graubünden region gnomes, trolls and other carvings and statues feature prominently in the front

gardens of many houses.

60 Ákos Moravánszky, ‘Concrete Constructs: The Limits of Rationalism in Swiss Architecture’, Architectural Design, Vol. 77 Issue 5

(September/October 2005), pp. 30-35 (pp. 31-32).

61 Religions in the communes in 2000 (Federal Department of Statistics)

<http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/regionen/thematische_karten/maps/bevoelkerung/sprachen_religionen.html>

[accessed 12 August 2009].


25

Figure 12. Gnomes in Andeer62

This whimsicalness appears to have direct links with the idea of ‘spielwitz’.

4.4 Conclusions on Graubünden Living

In a very real sense, the Graubünden could be viewed as a ‘Switzerland in microcosm’ – its harsh climate

and remoteness means that its people have adapted to patterns of living that are self-sufficient. The land

is valuable and the population unites to till it, but prefers to amalgamate into small, intimate hamlets and

villages in the evenings – close enough to protect each other, but distant enough not to be intrusive. The

‘spielwitz’ or playfulness that was identified in chapter 3 remains in evidence, albeit in a slightly different

guise, through the strong mystical iconography on display around these alpine villages.

62 Author’s photograph, August 2009.


26

5. THE MANIFESTATION OF ‘SWISSNESS’ AND ‘GRAUBÜNDERNESS’ AS

ARCHITECTURE

This chapter explains how the character traits identified in chapter 3, on Swissness and chapter 4, on

Graubünden living, are reflected in architecture.

5.1 Beyond The Swiss Box

The title of this dissertation alludes to ‘Swiss Boxes’ - the manifestation of 1990s image of Switzerland to

the external, architectural world as efficient, well-detailed, austere, regular, static buildings, typically

delivered on time and on budget.

Swiss architecture has inherited the austerity of Calvinism. The sobriety and even hardness of works produced in Switzerland derive from culture and character.63

An example of a ‘Swiss Box’ would include Herzog & de Meuron’s Eberswalde Library in Germany,

completed in 1999, which demonstrates the way in which the typology of this era was largely focused on

the treatment of the building’s skin.

Figure 13. An example of a Swiss Box – Herzog & de Meuron’s Eberswalde Library64

63 Francisco Asensio Cerver, The Architecture of Minimalism (New York: Arco, 1997), p.13.

64 Eberswalde Library (Panoramio) <http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14858863> [accessed 2 December 2009].


27

This dissertation has thus far attempted to profile the Swiss more widely than just sober and fastidious,

and in here will explain how these broader characteristics are manifested in architecture.

5.2 Continuity: Modernism as a continuation of tradition

The crux to understanding Swiss architecture… is [that it is] perhaps unique in the developed world for its continuous development of a tradition. And that tradition has become its own breed of modernism. The romantic populism of chalet architecture and mountain villages notwithstanding, the culture of modernism is so pervasive in Switzerland that it need not even be articulated, much less defended. 65

Owing to its neutrality during World War II, Switzerland

avoided the widespread destruction that countries such as

France, Germany, the Benelux and the UK experienced.

There were no cities in Switzerland that required wholesale

rebuilding; as such there was no backlash against post-war

Modernism that most other European countries experienced.

In Switzerland, Modernism is viewed as a continuation of the

process of evolution in construction, happening on a gradual

scale and alongside traditional architecture.

5.2.1 Continuity, neutrality and minimal art

Minimal art is art ‘radically cleansed of metaphors, symbolism

or any form of metaphysics’.66 The influence of this way of

thinking is evidenced at the architecture department of ETH

Zurich, where students designs are rarely encumbered by heavy conceptual thinking, and are, at worst,

orthogonal buildings ‘without any guiding concept and so [are] merely a set of finely crafted details’.67 The

absence of a guiding concept or ideology seems entirely consistent with the nation’s ‘neutral’ status.

This preference absence of an underlying rhetoric provides the Swiss with a ‘preference for monolithic

buildings or for an architectural language that is conspicuous by its s i lence at times…’68

65 Spier, p.7.

66 Stanislaus von Moos, ‘Max Bill: In Search of the “Primitive Hut”’, in 2G vol. 29/30: Max Bill Architect, ed. by Karen Gimmi and

Hans Frei (Barcelona, Gustavo Gili, May 2004), pp. 6-20, (p.13).

67 Spier, p.8.

68 Roman Hollenstein, ‘Swiss Architecture Today: An Overview’, in Birkhäuser architectural guide Switzerland: 20th century, ed. by

Mercedes Daguerre (Basel: Birkhäuser, 1997), pp. 380-405 (p.405).


28

Figure 14. Proposal for a ‘Monument to Honour Labour’ by Max Bi l l – Swiss architect, sculptor, minimal art ist69

Architecture in Switzerland is still taught as building, not as art, theory, nor philosophy. Christoph

Allenspach explains that the first question Swiss builders will ask is: ‘How is it done?’ and then ‘What

does it look like?’. Attention to detail flows through the culture of building in Switzerland, implying

intensive co-operation between architects, engineers and contractors.70

Manifestos are not Swiss. Architects want to build; only a few of them supply a theoretical justification for their methods.71

69 Arthur Rüegg, ‘Monument to Honour Labour, Zurich, 1939’, in 2G vol. 29/30: Max Bill Architect, ed. by Karen Gimmi and Hans

Frei (Barcelona, Gustavo Gili, May 2004) pp. 90-92, (p.91).

70 Chrisoph Allenspach, Architecture in Switzerland: Building in the 19th and 20th Centuries, (Zurich: Pro Helvetia Arts Council of

Switzerland, 1999), p.16.

71 Ibid., p. 13.


29

5.2.2 Continuity through materiality

Continuity is typically reinforced in Swiss architecture by the use of a high quality, but sober, materials

palette. This is made possible due to the nation’s wealth, as set out in chapter 3, which allows it to

continue to develop artisanal and precision craft skills at a time when its European neighbours have felt

obliged to outsource their manufacturing production to lower cost countries and refocused away from

primary and secondary industry to service-based professions. ‘It can even be said that [in Switzerland] it

is not the quality of the idea but the quality of the thing that is important’.72

The desire to remain inconspicuous and discrete regardless of wealth manifests itself in the use of a

limited palette of materials. Concrete features heavily in Swiss architects’ palettes, in part because of

Switzerland’s leadership in tunnelling and bridge building.

Swiss architects find their confidence in building in concrete — for many years the Swiss have been constructing the most challenging concrete structures in order simply to get around, through mountains and across ravines. Nature is always sheer and present.73

Eminent Swiss bridge builders who have contributed to Switzerland’s prowess in concrete construction

include Robert Maillart, Othmar Ammann, Christian Menn and now Jürg Conzett.74 The use of concrete

has strong connections with the idea of ‘forme forte’, the notion of rooted, monolithic architecture, which

is explained in more depth below.

The limited and traditional material palette feeds back to reinforce continuity. The architect Miroslav Šik,

who acted as professor at ETH Zurich to many of the – then student - architects responsible for the case

study houses in this dissertation said in his book, ‘Old-New’:

As a traditionalist, I cherish the link with architectural craftsmanship – by which […] I mean not only the manual skill but also methods and materials that have been tried and tested over long periods of time. I regard slight restraint as a bridge that links the past, the present and the future and ensures continuity.75

72 Spier, p.8.

73 Jonathan Woolf, Man & Monolith (London: BDonline, 18 November 2005)

<http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3059283> [accessed 3 August 2009].

74 Spier, p.13.

75 Miroslav Šik, Heinz Wirz (ed.), Old-New (Lucerne, Quart, 2000), p. 62.


30

5.3 Forme Forte – the architectural manifestation of a need for security

Chapter 3 identified the ‘the Swiss people’s highly developed

need for security’76 and how that was attributable to the

country’s political status as an independent, occasionally

autonomous country, surrounded by other, larger nations. The

architectural consequence of this is what the architectural

theorist Martin Steinmann refers to as ‘La forme forte’ –

translated from the French as ‘strong’ or ‘forceful’ form.

Steinmann believes that the opacity and autonomy of these

forms has become ‘the paradigm of new Swiss architecture’.77

As a small, neutral country, it is perhaps unsurprising that

many Swiss boxes appear monolithic; wedge-like, seemingly

locked to the rock on which they are built for eternity, and with

few apertures as points of weakness or breach.78 Many of the

these monolithic, bunker-like, elemental volumes appear to

have been formed by the interior being carved out, what Valerio Olgiati refers to as ‘An Architecture of

Dividing’ as opposed to ‘An Architecture of Adding’.79

In the Graubünden, a robust, defensive building typology has emerged out of climatic considerations.

Two forms of construction dominate the region:

1. ‘Blockbau’ or ‘str ickbau’ construct ion, which is log-on-log knitted construction, typically

constructed on a stone plinth, generally built into the slope of the mountainside. Strickbau

construction is limited by the size of the timbers available. As a form of massing construction (as

opposed to framed construction) it requires significant amounts of timber, and the wood is

subject to warping as it dries out. The solid construction technique results in an architecture of

division, with a central, unheated circulation core, and most importantly, a hearth room or

‘stube’.


77 Bearth, Deplazes and Wirz (ed.), Bearth & Deplazes, Konstrukte / Constructs, p.31.

78 Ibid.

79 Markus Breitschmid, The Significance of the Idea in the Architecture of Valerio Olgiati (Zurich, Niggli, 2009), p.47.


31

Figure 15. Tradit ional str ickbau construct ion technique80 Figure 16. Examples of ‘stube’ in f loor plans81

Figure 17. Engadine House deep splayed window reveal82

Figure 18. Sgraff i to appl ied decorat ion, house in Andeer83

80 Schlorhaufer and Caminada, p.52.

81 Ibid., p.53.

82 Guenter Fischer, Windows Of A Typical Engadine House, Samedan, Engadin, Grisons, Switzerland (World of Stock)

<http://www.worldofstock.com/closeups/ADT5653.php> [accessed 20 October 2009].



32

2. The Engadine House consists of thick walls, and asymmetric splayed, small, deep windows

to protect against the alpine climate. Although Engadine houses appear to be solid masonry,

they are generally constructed from solid wood and then covered with white stucco or with a

secondary wall of stone and then stuccoed. This double wall combines the waterproofing and

wind shielding properties of stone with the insulating properties of wood.84 Frequently they are

decorated with frescos or sgraffito, where layers of contrasting coloured plaster are applied and

then scratched away to leave decorative facades.

Both forms of construction in the Graubünden make use of abundant local materials – timber and stone,

and the density of the construction imbues the buildings with a stereotomic, solid, permanent quality.

Openings must be kept small to avoid structurally weakening the massive solid walls. These typologies

echo on a local scale the need for a feeling of security in the face of nature. The Vrin-based architect

Gion Caminada said in an interview with the journal 2G:

City people long to look out over extensive views of nature, while the inhabitants of mountain landscapes, who live in close contact with nature, prefer an intimate space that is conducive to warmth and closeness. Personally, l like this attitude.85

As such, both strickbau construction and Engadine houses represent the ‘formes fortes’ of the

Graubünden region. As massing constructions, both techniques are material and labour intense, and

therefore there is overlap with ideas of continuity, high wealth and craft.

5.3.1 Forme Forte, plasticity and applied decoration

The thinner mountain air makes for intense sunlight in the

Graubünden when the sky is clear. When travelling around

the region the mountain chapels elicit memories of the

Cyclades islands in Greece, the whitewashed churches

demonstrating an evident plasticity of form.

Any decoration, be it painted, as sgraffito, or from

woodcarving is thrown into sharp relief by the bright

sunlight.

84 George Everard Kidder, Switzerland Builds: its Native and Modern Architecture (London: Architectural Press, 1950), p.66.

85 Christoph Staub, ‘The Vrin Project’, in 2G: Construir en las montañas : arquitectura reciente en los Grisones = Building in the

mountains : recent architecture in Graubünden, ed. by Moises Puente and Lluis Ortega, vol 2. no. 14, (Barcelona, Gustavo Gili,

2000), pp.136-143, (p.139).


Figure 19. Church in Vals86


33

Heinz Wirz, the editor of Swiss architectural publishing house Quart, observes that:

Almost all the important works of recent Swiss architecture are clearly defined in terms of absolute volume, of the creation of surfaces of varying luminosity. 87

5.4 Gestalt – wholeness and indivisibility

In chapter 3, on discussing Switzerland as a confederation of

regions, a citation by Swissworld explained how the Swiss see

Switzerland as ‘unity, but not uniformity’.88 Valerio Olgiati says:

‘modular things can fall apart’.89 Gestalt - or wholeness - is

related to the notion of forceful form – la forme forte - but it is

subtly different. Gestalt psychology focuses on principles or

emergence and ‘indivisible totality’ – the picture only becoming

complete when viewed as an entire whole.

Figure 20. Spotty dog – an example of ‘emergence’ in Gestalt psychology90

Figure 21. A: Standard Kanizsa tr iangle. B: Peter Tse's Volumetr ic Worm. C: Idesawa's Spiky Sphere. D: Peter Tse's Sea Monster91

87 Valentin Bearth, Andrea Deplazes and Heinz WIrz (ed.), Spacepieces (Lucerne, Quart, 2000), p.45.

88 Culture: What is Swissness? (Swissworld Swissworld: Your Gateway to Switzerland)

<http://www.swissworld.org/en/culture/swissness/what_is_swissness/> [accessed 12 October 2009].

89 Breitschmid, p.55.

90 David Marr, Vision: A Computational Investigation Into The Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information (San

Francisco : W.H. Freeman, 1982), p.101.

91 Steven Lehar, The World In Your Head: A Gestalt View of the Mechanism of Conscious Experience (Mahwah, New Jersey:

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003), p.52.


34

In his description of Valerio Olgiati’s school at Paspels in the journal 2G, Jacques Lucan eloquently

describes highly effectively how this has been translated into architecture (emphasis added):

Let us return to the building’s monolithic character. It belongs to the category Robert Morris called “unitary forms” - polyhedrons that “seem to fa i l to present l ines of fracture by which they could div ide for easy part-to-part re lat ionships to be establ ished”. From this perspective Paspels School should be understood as a whole, an ent ity so indiv is ib le that no jo int shows a possible separat ion, nor does any access of symmetry div ide the volume. Openings are not set out at all regularly, in particular, as if they are located for a reason which is at present hidden, they do not fit into the grid of the reinforced-concrete formwork. This has the effect of giving the school an event more monolithic character, with the pattern of the formwork unaffected by the openings. The intervals between openings always vary slightly, so they seem to disturb the regularity of the complex. Moreover, by looking slowly and carefully, we see that the four corners of the building seem not be right angles, but slightly acute or obtuse. The deformations mean that the volume is not a “cube”. Although the dif ferences, intervals and deformations are v is ib le, they are s l ight and not very dist inct…. In the end, Paspels School offers a perceptual experience. It invites us to circle around, as if around a totem pole, looking at each façade, but there is no ideal position in which we can stop, no viewpoint from which we can understand the building in its entirety. So it is a paradox, one which Valerio Olgiati likes to present elsewhere: to create a monol i th ic and stat ic bui ld ing with irregular i t ies that just emphasise i ts unif ied and harmonious character...92

Figure 22. Paspels School by Valer io Olgiat i93

92 Jacques Lucan, ‘Textured Spatiality and Frozen Chaos’ in 2G Vol. 37: Valerio Olgiati, ed. by Moisés Puntes and Anna Puyelo

(Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 2006), pp. 4-11 (pp. 4-5).



35

Another example of how an ‘architecture of division’ and wholeness is a popular theme is evidenced from

an exercise sheet from Andrea Deplazes’s studio at the ETH:

….make sketches of how your would dissect your “spacepiece” into a maximum of five pieces without any parts remaining. Determine the position of your incisions in such a way that you can reassemble your “spacepiece” in its original form.94

94 Bearth, Deplazes, WIrz (ed.), Spacepieces, p.46.

95 Lucan, 2G Vol. 37: Valerio Olgiati, pp. 46-48.

Figure 23. Paspels School by Valer io Olgiat i – an example of wholeness and indiv is ibi l i ty – plans and elevat ions95


36

5.6 Spielwitz & Mysticism

This heading brings together the qualities of law-

abidingness and playfulness of the Swiss as set out in

chapter 3, and the importance of myth and folklore, the

whimsical, in the Graubünden, introduced in chapter 4.

5.6.1 Playing within the rules: parametric design

Parametric – or generative - design concerns itself with

the iterative process of design from the use of tightly

defined parameters from a specific site. Examples of

such parameters could include local planning laws about

the maximum height of a building, rights to light of a

neighbouring property, and the boundary line.

Designers can then specify required design outcomes –

for example – maximum floor area for their design –

whilst taking account of those fixed parameters and whilst respecting parameters true for all buildings –

namely, building regulations. Parameters can be adjusted, but the overall effect is to achieve a quasi-

autonomous design through the use of computer software and iterative design, until an ‘optimal’ solution

for the given constraints is attained.

Consequently, Valerio Olgiati has claimed that he is ‘designing nothing’.96 This statement by an architect

with a reputation for producing buildings of sublime quality may seem bizarre. The basis of architecture,

for Olgiati, ‘has more to do with mathematics than with phenomenology’.97

The interaction of the prevailing view of ‘architecture as building’ and a strong respect for the law in

Switzerland helps explain the popularity of parametric design in Olgiaiti’s atelier in Flims, a technique that

is also employed by many of his contemporaries as a mechanism for rooting a project in its ‘place’

through a near Pavlovian adherence to planning legislation. Jacques Lucan says of Olgiati’s proposal for

an office building in Zurich (emphasis added):

The form owes nothing to the architect’s imagination. The shape is not the result of a choice; the only option was to submit to the constraints of the site in a strict way. Ideally, the form would have been the ‘automatic’ result of the equation which combines regulatory parameters.98

96 Markus Breitschmid, p.55.

97 Ibid., p.61.

98 Lucan, Valerio Olgiati, p.9.


37

Through the case study houses in chapter 7, this dissertation will present a number of examples where

the design has been grounded in its site through the passive acceptance of local planning laws.

5.6.2 Mountains and mysticism

As well as the abundance of gnomes found

in gardens in the region, folly-like towers -

sources of intrigue and mysticism -

punctuate the Graubünden landscape.

Zumthor’s Swiss Sound Box for the

Hannover 2000 Expo was designed to be a

corporeal experience set amongst a

labyrinthine mass of stacked drying

timbers, punctuated by food stalls, works

of Swiss art and music.100

The mysticism of the mountains acts

alongside Spielwitz, introducing motifs such

as non-orthogonal forms, towers and split-

levels. Examples of these outcomes will be

shown in chapter 7.

5.7 Education: ETH Zurich reinforcing Swissness

One of the most important common themes linking the current wave of successful architects in the

Graubünden is The Federal Institution of Technology, or ETH (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule)

Zurich. Steven Spier says:

ETH Zurich… epitomises much about Swiss culture. It is very selective… rigorous… it is sure where it is heading… it produces students of an extremely high competence and doesn’t entertain the maverick sensibility.101

All of the architects of the case study buildings in this dissertation have connections with ETH Zurich

whilst Conradin Clavuot, Anrdrea Deplazes, Quintus Miller, and Valerio Olgiati were amongst Miroslav

Šik’s students in the Analoge Architectur Unit.

99 Zumthor, Corps Sonore Suisse, p.155.

100 Ibid., p.64.

101 Spier, p.9.

Figure 24. Light ing plan for Zumthor’s labyr inthine Swiss Sound Box, Hannover 200099


38

5.7.1 Miroslav Šik + Analoge Architektur

From 1983, the Autonomous Architecture unit at ETH Zurich was chaired by Fabio Reinhart with support

from Luca Ortelli, Santiago Calatrava and Miroslav Šik. Šik very quickly took on a central role within the

atelier, grouping students around him into a sort of elite class. The students in Šik’s unit courted early

controversy by their isolationism and all-black attire with drew criticism of being a clan – furthermore they

displayed a keen interest in early Fascist-era architecture.102

After two years of dissociation with the avant-garde and searching for an identity, Šik started to

emphasise the importance of anonymous, regionally rooted architecture, awareness of the everyday and

the atmosphere of place. Šik encouraged his students to celebrate the everyday using a fusion of styles

to evoke the zeitgeist - familiar yet original.103 Analoge Architektur was undoubted influenced by the

postmodern movement and the work of Robert Venturi, but ‘its droll quality was transformed into a

melancholy poesy’.104

In the analogous approach, atmosphere becomes a genuine tool for carving out the identity of a site, a building or space. When properly handled, it can fulfil the innate human need for stabi l i ty and protect ion.105

Notions of cont inuity and gestalt are of great significance to Šik:

My preferences are always in the interests of cont inuity.106

I seek to wipe out existing contrasts with the modern city. Buildings not only have to be slotted neatly into their site; they have to impact the conflicting elements around them […] My role is iron out each conflict so that everything can once again form one whole.107

Šik did not get his students to work on out-of-the-ordinary programmes, but rather on projects that could

be tackled in depth, such as converting housing. Building regulations were carefully respected and

students were expected to study standard product catalogues - not with the aim of curbing the students'

imagination - but in order to keep projects within the bounds of ‘the ordinary’. This echoes the law-

abiding and discrete characteristics of ‘Swissness’ identified in chapter 3.

102 Jacques Lucan, A Matter of Art – Contemporary Architecture in Switzerland (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2001), p.44.

103 Spier, pp. 12-13.

104 Ibid., p.9.

105 Lucan, A Matter of Art – Contemporary Architecture in Switzerland, p.47.

106 Šik, Wirz (ed.), p.62.



39

Figure 25. Student work from Miroslav Sik’s Analoge Architektur unit108

Figure 26. Andrea Deplazes: student drawings under Sik’s tuit ion – Crematorium, Neuenhof, 1987109


109 Miroslav Šik, ‘Dossier: Suisse Allemande; Traditionnel, poétique’, Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, 299 (June 1995), 63-71 (p.70).


40

Perspective drawings were worked up on computers and then coloured by hand over several days. The

process was intentionally slow so that students could grasp the material reality of the design. Šik said:

I get them to draw everything, down to the dirt on the road… That way they start thinking about things like the texture of the sun-warmed asphalt. 110

The ultimate aim of any scheme was unity, so each alteration to the site has to be virtually imperceptible,

blending seamlessly with the setting.

Despite the strong influence that Šik had over his students, his teachings seem entirely consistent with

notions of ‘Swissness’; indeed, they would appear to have very strong connections with ideals such as

continuity and discretion (what is permitted is what does not bother). Šik sought a smooth integration of

past and present, a concordant unity of old and new. Šik’s Analoge Architektur unit does not appear to

represent a stylistic distraction from notions of ‘Swissness’ or ‘Graubünberness’ but, rather, has acted as

a positive reinforcement feedback mechanism for the traits identified in chapters 3 and 4.

5.8 Conclusions on the manifestation of ‘Swissness’ and ‘Graubünderness’ as architecture

Switzerland’s selective engagement with the rest of the world and its highly attuned desire for security

produces an elemental, strong, defensive, bunker-like, inward-focused architecture – what Martin

Steinmann refers to as la forme forte. This is further reinforced by climatic factors in the alpine region

of the Graubünden.

As well as being monolithic, these building types are often appear impenetrable, and do not present easy

lines of fracture – the principle of wholeness, entire indivisible totality - gestalt . This inward focus

reduces greatly the need for any sort of manifesto or ideology – hence the simplicity or ‘quietness’

moniker frequently attached to Swiss architecture.

The elemental quality is frequently reinforced by a limited, but high-quality and precise palette, the choice

of materials grounded by specifiers with a strong knowledge of how to build and clients with sufficient

financial resources to afford such high standards. Discrete designs, traditional materials and craft serve

to reinforce a feeling of cont inuity permeating Swiss architecture.

Swiss Architects have started to use town-planning laws to influence their designs as a deliberate way of

rooting a building into its surroundings, a form of parametric design, or playing within in a framework –

which was identified in chapter 2 as spie lwitz. The whimsy and myst ic ism evidenced by folklore

iconography in the Graubünden appears to be a close relation to spielwitz.



41

6. APPRAISING ARCHITECTURE AS IDENTITY: METHODOLOGY

6.1 Analysis Framework

The analysis framework was derived from the elements of ‘Swissness’ or ‘Graubünderness’ identified in

chapters 3 and 4, which were then translated into an architectural language in chapter 5. In order to

organise and group these influences on architecture to create a clear tool with which to analyse the case

study houses, a mind map was created.

Figure 27. Prel iminary attempt to mind-map notions of ‘Swissness’ and ‘Graubünderness’ - August 2009111

This was later refined and simplified to:



42

Figure 28. Analysis framework for ‘Swissness’ and ‘Graubünderness’112

Swiss influences are denoted by red circles, Graubünden influences by grey circles



43

Here is a brief aide memoire of some of the architectural implications of the four analysis categories:

6.1.1 Forme Forte

The idea of a strong or forceful form, suggesting rootedness, monumentality, related to national security

concerns deriving from neutrality, and regional climatic considerations. In this category case study

buildings will be tested for evidence for factors such as robustness, stereotomic construction, small

apertures, a strong connection with the ground; all combing to provide a feeling of permanence.

6.1.2 Gestalt

Related to Forme Forte and therefore overlapping in the mind map diagram, gestalt introduces ideas of

entire totality, unity, wholeness and indivisibility.

6.1.3 Mysticism and Spielwitz

Mysticism is specific to the Graubünden, and concerns itself with regional influences associated with

Alpine dwelling. It includes elements that evoke ideas of myth, such as tower construction; whilst

overlapping with ‘gestalt’. It could evidence itself through, say, a labyrinthine internal layout and / or the

use of half-levels.

Non-orthogonal plans are also captured by this category, and it is here that we might expect to see

overlaps with ‘spielwitz’ and the idea of manipulating a building’s form to play within the legal parameters

of its site.

6.1.4 Continuity

Being the most important factor and a defining attribute of ‘Swissness’, continuity overlaps with each of

the three other factors above - and therefore interfaces with them all on the diagram in Figure 28. Ideas of

tradition and continuity could manifest themselves in the case study houses through notions of quietness

and discretion through a limited palette, craftsmanship through precision detailing, and links to vernacular

construction methods.

6.2 The Case Study Buildings

A. Haus Meuli: Bearth & Deplazes in Flasch;

B. Willimann-Lotscher House: Bearth & Deplazes in Sevgein;

C. House for a Musician, Atelier Bardill: Valerio Olgiati in Scharans;

D. Girls’ Boarding House: Gion Caminada in Disentis;

E. Haus Luzi: Peter Zumthor in Jenaz;

F. Gartmann House: Patrick Gartmann in Chur


44

G. Haus Raselli-Kalt: Conradin Clavuot in Poschiavo; and

H. Extension to Villa Garbald: Miller & Maranta in Castasegna.

Figure 29. The Case Study Houses al l are located within 60 ki lometres of the Graubünden capital, Chur ( locat ion of the Gartmann House, F)113

113 Author’s annotation of a Google Map.


45

6.3 Basis for selection

Eight buildings were selected in order to provide a representative sample size, whilst allowing for

sufficiently deep evaluation of each. In addition, the case study houses are:

1. Contemporary. This dissertation is interested in critical regionalism and what buildings say

about Switzerland today, and how Swissness informs building design. For the purposes of this

dissertation, ‘contemporary’ is defined as having been completed in the past decade;

2. Situated in the Graubünden, as set out in the introduction, where the influence of

‘globalisation’ to date remains more limited;

3. Real ised by a Swiss architect – as opposed to a foreign architect building in the

Graubünden in a ‘Swiss manner’;

4. Resident ia l . The hypothesis is that residential architecture is more personal and speaks more

of the client’s deep-held needs and values than a more polyvalent, public or corporate building.

Two residential centres are included to extend the range of architects covered by this

dissertation; and

5. Completed, and publ ished in journals or books with Engl ish text. This is attributable

to the author’s weak abilities in reading German and total inability to read Romansch.

Furthermore, the majority of the case study buildings are private homes, and therefore not

internally accessible for primary research.


46

7A. HAUS MEULI IN FLASCH BY BEARTH & DEPLAZES

7A.1 Description

Completed in 2001, this family house is located a wine-making valley, on the edge of the small village of

Flasch, adjacent to vineyards and very close to Heidi’s hometown of Maienfeld.

Figure 30. Site plan114 Figure 31. Section115

The rooms are accommodated over three floors (plus cellar), with the living room at the top floor to

benefit from the views, and the kitchen on the ground floor to interface with the small garden.

114 Bearth, Deplazes, WIrz (ed.), Konstrukte / Constructs, p.74.

115 Architektur Vor ort 035 (Vorarlberger Architektur Institure) <http://v-a-

i.at/files/avo%20/architektur%20vor%20ort%2035_graubuenden_web.pdf> [accessed 10 November 2009] (p.4).


47

Figure 32. Plans and elevat ions116,117



48

7A.2 Analysis

7A.2.1 Forme forte

With no plinth or other form of delineation, the polygonal form appears to emerge as a geometric boulder

from the surrounding fertile soils.

Figure 33. Emerging from the fert i le soi ls around Flasch118

The walls are made of 500mm thick solid Stampfbeton – a non-reinforced concrete - and were poured

into cheap formwork. The concrete is mixed with granulated glass to provide insulation. The walls have

been lime-washed a greyish white.

The window openings are precisely punched out of these thick concrete walls, and by setting the glazing

flush with the internal walls the architects have ensured that the solidity of the walls is clearly appreciable.

The deep window reveals generate a deep relief, creating what is akin to a piece of minimal art in the

strong mountain sunlight.

117 Nobuyuki Yoshida (ed.), ‘Meuli House’, a+u: New Regionalism in Switzerland, 354 (2000), 68-73 (pp. 70-71).



49

7A.2.2 Gestalt

The combination of the kinked roof plane, the non-orthogonal walls, and the deep-sunk windows of

varying sizes, presents the observer with no obvious line of fracture for the building.

Figure 34. Indiv is ible total i ty - gestalt119 Figure 35. Sculptural form a result of reduction or carving - not an ‘architecture of addit ion’120

7A.2.3 Mysticism + Spielwitz

The building’s five-sided form owes much to the parameters of its angular site at the edge of the village,

adjacent to lucrative wine-growing land, acting a as corset for the design.121

The unconventional ‘skewed’ angle of these buildings is not only a gestural quality. It is also a metaphor for a free style of movement on the Cartesian chessboard in the game of building bureaucracy.122

Haus Meuli is tower-like, recalling the folly-like towers that punctuate the Graubünden scenery, with non-

orthogonal internal volumes and split levels providing the intrigue internally.



121 Ibid., p.75.

122 Ibid., p.33.


50

7A.2.4 Continuity

The tall, thin building demonstrates a tradition of land economy by squeezing into the corner of its site,

preserving land for the vines.123 The house is ‘decidedly anti-high-tech’,124 the solid concrete walls harking

back to the solid appearance of the Engadine Houses or the compact and plastic, like the old manor-

houses of Flasch. The traces of the wooden formwork have been retained, integrating the monolith to an

extent with the neighbouring farm buildings.

The pronounced roof overhang echoes the surrounding fabric whilst simultaneously meeting planning

legislation and hiding the roof gutter ‘…the absurd regulations governing the design of roofs: nicely even

on all sides, the overhanging roof is virtually elevated to Holy-Sacrament status in house building’.125

Meanwhile, the small drainpipes below each window aperture demonstrate both a quality of craft and

understatement that is typically Swiss.

Figure 36. East elevat ion showing gutter detai ls

123 Spier, p.22.

124 Ibid., p.21.



51

7B. HAUS WILLIMANN-LOTSCHER IN SEVGEIN BY BEARTH & DEPLAZES

7B.1Description

Built between 1998 and 1999, with the clients,

a family, carrying out some of the building work

themselves, this timber-framed house sits

wedge-like on the edge of the small village of

Sevgein. The building’s living spaces open out

towards the northeast, overlooking the wide

valley of the Vorderrhine containing the main rail

and road links between Flims and Chur.

Two of the five corners are right angles, with the

wider west elevation broken by a rib. The

central circulation spine mitigates the north light

by allowing south light to penetrate through the

core, and also provides a double height space

for the entrance lobby.

126 Reichlin and Schaub, p.42.

Figure 37. Site plan126


52

Figure 38. Elevat ions, plans and sections127,128

127 Panorama - Light Catcher (Velux) <http://da.velux.com/veluxcommon/resources/cache/site/da.velux.com/Non-

Image/PDF/DA01_Panorama.pdf> [accessed 20 November 2009].

128 Arbeiten Bearth + Deplazes <http://deplazes.arch.ethz.ch/downloads/bearth_deplazes/B&Dg_wl_sevgein.pdf> [accessed 20

November 2009].


53

7B.2 Analysis

7B.2.1 Forme forte

Despite being a timber-framed structure clad in boards, the building appears homogenous and therefore

monolithic, strengthened by its five-sided plan and non-orthogonal angles. The cladding is of grey-

varnished wood of three different widths and has a ‘remarkable heaviness’.129 Boosting the sense of

protection and defensiveness of the building, each room has only a single window.

The timber frame sits above a fair-faced concrete slab that steps down with the terrain, rooting the

building into the side of the mountain.

7B.2.2 Gestalt

The house is arranged across split-levels, creating variated views and an ‘inner topography’.130 The

building is a puzzle box, appearing to be ‘clear and unequivocal only at first glance’.131 The architects

explain: ‘A house with lots of different rooms - a kind of "labyrinthine mouse hole" – was what this family

of four wanted’.132

7B.2.3 Mysticism + Spielwitz

As you approach the building from the southeast, the non-orthogonal plan and the roof rib combine to

distort perspective, making it hard for the observer to determine the length of the building, as shown in

Figures 39 and 40. The concept of a population of mice evokes a vision of ‘a natural way of life on the

borders of the community, perhaps a romantic dream of dropping out of the social network…. living in a

spatial continuum divorced from the outside world’.133

7B.2.4 Continuity

The slenderness of the Willimann-Lotscher House ‘continues in the tradition of the massive, feudal

fortress towers of the Grisons, which are both spatial focal points and mysterious crystallisations of folk

fantasy’.134



131 Ákos Moravánszky ‘Swissboxes etcetera’, a+u: 10 Architects In Switzerland, 410 (November 2004), 12-17 (p.14).



134 Ibid., p.45.


54

Figure 39. Paral lax distort ion when viewed from the South East135

Figure 40. Architects’ sketches136

Reflecting the Swiss penchant for understatement and also the influence of Miroslav Šik’s teaching of the

everyday - analoge architektur, using standard components, the windows in the elevations are actually

off-the-shelf skylights set within copper frames, chosen as they were the cheapest option to fulfil the

function.

One element of the design that represents a clear break with continuity however, in the quest for a

prismatic form, is the absence of an overhanging roof, which ‘attracted bitter opposition from some

villagers’.137

Figure 41. Velux windows in wal ls138 Figure 42. South West Elevat ion139


136 Ibid., p.126.

137 Ibid., p.107.

138 Andrea Deplazes, Constructing Architecture – Materials, Processes, Structures: A Handbook, 2nd extended Edition (Basel:

Birkhäuser, 2008), pp. 433-434.


55

7C. HOUSE FOR A MUSICIAN, SCHARANS BY VALERIO OLGIATI

7C.1 Description

This studio house was constructed between 2005 and 2007 for the musician Linard Bardil. It lies in the

heart of the old village of Scharans and occupies the site of a former barn. Conzett, Bronzini and

Gartmann acted as structural engineers for the project.

Figure 43. Site plan, north direct ly up139 Figure 44. Larger site plan140

139 Valerio Olgiati, House for A Musician – Atelier Bardil (Neuenhof, Koepfli Partners, 2007), p.47.

140 Valerio Olgiati, 25 Pages download 2007_8 – Atelier Olgiati <http://www.olgiati.net/book_25%20pages_A4.pdf> [accessed 8

August 2009] (p.24).


56

Figure 45. Plans, Section, Elevat ions141


August 2009] (pp. 23-25).


57

7C.2 Analysis

7C.2.1 Forme forte

The walls are constructed out of in-situ, double-walled, tinted fair-faced concrete, making the building

appear solidly rooted to the earth, like some form of clay extrusion. The external walls reflect the volume

of the old barn that previously occupied the site and therefore are tall and dominating, and are punctured

only by a single large aperture on the west elevation, above head height from the street. This serves to

admit afternoon sunlight into the walled garden, whilst maintaining privacy for the occupants.

The courtyard garden and its oculus suggest an inward focus, suggesting inspiration for the musician

owner coming from the celestial, rather than the terrestrial.

7C.2.2 Gestalt

By applying decoration across the all the red-

brown pigmented concrete surfaces of the

building – not just walls, but the soffit and even

the chimneybreast, the house takes on a

monumentality, a sense of plasticity and unified

wholeness. ‘The idea that stands at the centre

of Olgiati’s architecture is the absolute, a

totality, an organic unity’.143

7C.2.3 Mysticism + Spielwitz

Planning laws almost exclusively determined the

form - to obtain planning permission in the

protected historic village-scape, the volume of

the old wooden stable that it replaced had to be

precisely replicated.144

The musician only required a third of the volume of the old barn for his 60m2 studio, so the rebuilt walls

largely frame the courtyard garden.


August 2009] (p.22).

143 Breitschmid, p.7.

144 Oliver Domeisen, ‘The Quest for Ornament’, Detail Review of Architecture and Construction Details (English Edition), 6 (2008),

574-582, (p.581).

Figure 46. The rosette moti f even adorns the chimneybreast142


58

Regarding mysticism, the motif that adorns the concrete internally and externally is a simple geometric

abstraction of a flower, by which Olgiati wanted to avoid a specific symbolic meaning, instead recalling a

local craft tradition. The pattern however still cannot fail to evoke notions of Pagan imagery within

observers.

Figure 47. Atel ier Bardi l - South Elevat ion145

7C.2.4 Continuity

As with many of Olgiati’s schemes, there is an element of parametric design – inasmuch as the massing

of the previous barn on the site determined the external volume. The pigmentation of the concrete was a

requirement to gain planning permission, in the expectation that the red-brown colour would blend with

the existing context wooden chalets and 16th and 17th century houses finished in richly decorated

render.146 ‘The six pointed motif can be found […] on the wooden walls of the stables, and the red of the

concrete is reminiscent of the paint made with ox blood which once protected the wood from

parasites’.147


146 Domeisen, p.581.

147 Valerio Olgiati, Valerio Olgiati (Cologne: Walter Konig, 2008), p.115.


59

Between 150 and 170 motifs were hand-carved by two local craftsmen into the wooden formwork

panels, each of which was used three of four times in the casting process. Interestingly, the initial

investigations into the scope to use CNC milling for the shuttering were abandoned due to higher costs

compared to those of traditional craft methods. It was left up to the contractor to distribute the formwork

according to his aesthetic choice, introducing an element of chance into the arrangement of

approximately 550 rosettes upon the building.148

Figure 48. Absence of roof149 Figure 49. Craft tradit ion: carving the formwork panels150

148 Domeisen, p.581.


August 2009] (p.21).

150 Valerio Olgiati, House for A Musician – Atelier Bardil, p.36.


60

7D. GIRLS’ BOARDING HOUSE IN DISENTIS BY GION CAMINADA

7D.1 Description

Whilst this is not a private residence, it remains a residence, commissioned by the Cloister of Disentis for

their female students. Vrin-based architect Gion Caminada won the competition for the building as his

design was the lowest cost to build, largely through his elimination of the need for two separate stair

cores by cleverly seating the building into the hillside and thereby providing a level exit to the surrounding

terrain to each of the building’s five floors. The building was built between 2001 and 2004 and cost CHF

5.2m.151

Figure 50. Site plan in relat ion to vi l lage152 Figure 51. The larger openings denote the locat ion of the l iv ing rooms on each f loor, fol lowing the rotated plan153

Inside the near-cubic volume, the bedrooms on the upper four floors are arranged in a U-shape around a

lounge; the intention was a feeling of ‘radical normality’,154 a hotel for learning, not a reformatory. All the

girls have their own en-suite rooms, so it is effectively a home away from home. The large sliding

windows in each elevation reveal how the plan has rotated and the position of the lounge on each of the

upper floor levels, whilst the ground floor contains a multi-purpose space and small kitchen.

151 Gion A. Caminada, ‘Girls’ Dormitory, Cloister Disentis’, a+u: 10 Architects In Switzerland, 410 (November 2004), 84-89 (p. 84).

152 Ibid., p.86.

153 Christoph Mayr Fingerle, Neues Bauen in den Alpen = Architettura contemporanea alpina = New alpine architecture (Basel,

Birkhäuser, 2008), p.34.

154 Ibid., p.37.


61

Figure 52. Plans and Section155

155 Gion A. Caminada, ‘Girls’ Dormitory, Cloister Disentis’, a+u: 10 Architects In Switzerland, 410 (November 2004), 84-89 (p.86).


62

7D.2 Analysis

7D.2.1 Forme forte

Prior to this project, Caminada had built almost exclusively in timber, using the strickbau technique to

create a ‘knitted building’. The effect of such density of timber is to almost convert a tectonic element –

timber - into a stereotomic or cave-like structure. As such, the move to working with concrete and

render, as is the case in the girls’ dormitory block at Disentis, was not such a significant leap for the

architect as the materiality alone might suggest.

The wall thickness is made apparent through the recessed section of the window configurations. Built

into the central circulation spine of the building are copper plates ‘oven niches’, hearths or cuddle

corners, for a feeling of warmth and safety at the heart of the building.

Figure 53. Timber framed sett le windows, render wal ls with local granite l intel detai l ing156

Figure 54. ‘Cuddle corners’ at the heart of the bui lding on each f loor157

Caminada said: ‘The most important themes for the young women: a feeling of safety and

communication, nest as a metaphor for [a] secure safe place’.158

As the section in Figure 52 shows, the building is firmly seated into its mountainside location.


157 Schlorhaufer and Caminada, p.29.

158 Fingerle, p.37.


63

7D.2.2 Gestalt

The manner by which the floor plan rotates anticlockwise through 90 degrees on each floor works to lock

the five floors of the building to the central stair core, which, in itself, could be viewed as an indivisible

entity, as well as a sculptural piece of artwork.

Figure 55. The dormitory is unif ied and made indivis ible by the sculptural stair core159

7D.2.3 Mysticism + Spielwitz

The plan is a splayed square form, interfacing with the pre-existing buildings whilst respecting building

limits. The 90 degree turn between each level means that the living rooms on each floor each have a

different aspect, over the valley, towards the town of Disentis, or up towards the Benedictine Abbey.

Caminada says of the design: ‘In the labyrinth you come across yourself, there are different choices here,

meeting or avoiding / Every flat has separate access from the outside, is differently orientated’.160 By

integrating the dormitory into the terrain, Caminada has given the girls the option to travel through the

core or to skirt around the outside of the building. The effect is to increase the element of surprise.

7D.2.4 Continuity

The grey render of the building roots the building squarely in its location; the concrete was locally sourced

from a quarry on the outskirts of Disentis. The building achieves an understated quietness through the

simple materiality; it is only when you look closely above the windows that you notice the stone lintels set

flush into the render, as shown in Figure 53. Internally, the joinery work is of exceptional quality, whilst

also innovative in maximising the space for the girls in their en-suite rooms.

The overall outcome is a very humane, comforting and secure-feeling habitat.

159 Valentin Bontjes van Beek and Alex Hirst ‘Gion Caminada: Girls’ Dormitory, Disentis’, AA Files, 51, 2-13 (p.3).

160 Fingerle, p.37.


64

7E. HAUS LUZI IN JENAZ BY PETER ZUMTHOR

7E.1 Description

This is a private residence with a separate granny flat or ‘Stöckli’. The clients were a local couple with six

young children.161 The project lasted from 1992 to 2002, partly because of the need to air-dry the timbers

for the Strickbau construction. Peter Zumthor appears to be developing an interest in strickbau, following

on from the work of Gion Caminada in this field, and he has recently complete a pair of strickbau chalets

in a small hamlet above Vals for his wife, Annalisa Zumthor.

Figure 56. House in context in Jenaz

The house is located on a north-east facing slope just above the centre of the village of Jenaz, at an

altitude of about 800 metres, amongst other detached houses of similar scale, some of which are heavily

decorated in sgraffito.

Jürg Conzett acted as structural engineer.

161 Fingerle, p.253.


65

Figure 57. Plans, Elevat ion162

162 Fingerle, pp. 251-252.


66

7E.2 Analysis

7E.2.1 Forme forte

Although not out of scale with the surrounding houses, Haus Luzi remains very imposing above the

village. Since the building has been constructed out of timber, it sits atop stone terracing to create a level

site, a small tabla rasa, so appears less rooted to the ground than the previous case study houses.

Nonetheless, the huge strickbau walls can only support a certain number of apertures before they

become weakened, so whilst there are large windows in the central third of each façade, the structural

stair cores in each corner anchor the building heavily to its site. The monolithic nature of the building is

achieved by a double wall construction of stacked beams. Consequently, the long elevations are very

imposing and defensive looking when viewed from the street.

The building presents a strong external composition, with the windows set back to form flower balconies,

creating sharp relief from the over-shot Strickbau beams, suggesting undertones of minimal art.

7E.2.2 Gestalt

Externally, the building appears less of a puzzle box than

the previous case study buildings. It is regularly

orthogonal, but remains slightly cryptic because of the

opacity of the circulation towers in each corner.

The flat, overshot wall planes engender a feeling of

interlocking cards, like the Eames House of Cards, and,

like a house of cards, the interdependency of each

element on the stability of the structure provides that

feeling of interwoven wholeness.

7E.2.3 Mysticism + Spielwitz

A surprising feature of the layout is the way you can

either take a private flight of stairs or take a ‘diversion’, via the other rooms on the first floor, to get to the

bedrooms. In a similar way to the effect achieved by Caminada at the Girls’ Domitory in Disentis, the

options for circulation means that there is a real potential for people to appear and disappear, sprite-like,

when moving between floors.

163 Charles & Ray Eames House of Cards 1962, <http://automaticoroboticocodificado.dpa-etsam.com/wp-

content/uploads/2008/04/046charles-y-ray-eames-house-of-cards-1952-eames-design-p.jpg> [accessed 10 December 2009].

Figure 58. Eames House of Cards163


67

The act of disappearing up into the top floor is accompanied by a moment of bliss which Gaston Bachelard associates with the attic (grenier) of the ideal "cabin". This is clearly because, on large estates, attic space was divided up into tiny rooms or compartments where children servants or casual labourers slept. 164

7E.2.4 Continuity

The separate entrances and staircases and annexes allow for a tight family unit, promoting continuity

through inter-generational living. The layout means that the bedrooms, each with its own scenic view,

acquire an additional individuality, and a psychological distance from the main floor of the house is

created. This ties in with notions of ‘nearness, yet distance’ that was established in chapter 4.

The family was keen to use timber in the construction to ensure that employment and skills remained in

the area. They worked on the house themselves with friends and relatives at the weekends. The result is

an imposing but ‘no-frills’ family home, built by their own hands in the evenings and weekends over a

decade, as was typically the way in which houses were built in this region.165

164 Fingerle, p.252.

165 Ibid., p.251.


68

7F. GARTMAN HOUSE IN CHUR BY PATRICK GARTMANN

7F.1 Description

The Gartmann House is located on the side of a

hill above Chur, orientated towards the west. It

is the home of Patrick Gartmann, partner in the

firm of structural engineers Conzett, Bronzini,

Gartmann, and cost CHF 1 million167 to

construct (approximately £580,000). It was

completed in 2003. Each of the three floors

measures 102m2,168 meaning the building cost

equivalent to £1900/m2.

It was designed in collaboration with Bearth &

Deplazes and a total of seven similar houses

are planned for the area.169

166 Axel Sowa, ‘Maisons Individuelles’, Architecture D’aujourdh’hui 357 (March/April 2005), 38-93 (pp. 48-51).

167 Haus Gartmann (graubündenKULTUR))

<http://graubuendenkultur.ch/baudenkmaeler/detailausgabe.php?id_language=8&vortid=24369> [accessed 10 November 2009].

168 Philip Jodidio, CH : architecture in Switzerland (Cologne: Taschen 2006), p.108.

169 Lore Kelly, Poetische Atmospäre Haus Gartmann, Chur/CH,

<http://www.nalbachundnalbach.de/arch/dbz/archiv/artikel.php?object_id=38&area_id=1085&id=119519> [accessed 10

November 2009].

Figure 59. Plans166


69

7F.2 Analysis

7F.2.1 Forme forte

Like Haus Meuli by Bearth & Deplazes, the Gartmann House has been cast entirely as a single layer of

concrete, 450mm thick, with clay and glass added for insulation. One of the reasons that this house was

so expensive when contrasted with its austere internal finish is the use of the insulating Liapor concrete.

The arrival is deceptive and bunker-like – from the car park area you are presented with a solid concrete

wall with a single opening to what appears to be a bungalow. The rest of the building is built down into

the slope of the hill.

Like Haus Meuli, the glazing lies flush with the internal walls, making the monumental wall thicknesses

clearly legible from the exterior.

170 Jodidio, p.109.

Figure 60. Entrance to the Gartmann House170


70

7F2.2 Gestalt

The thick walls and roof slab and the set back windows suggest the interior spaces were hollowed out of

a solid, almost cubic block of solid concrete. The apertures are iterations of squares also, adding to the

building’s connections with minimal art.

7F.2.3 Mysticism + Spielwitz

That the design appears rather austere and

internally orthodox, and there is not a huge

amount of evidence of playfulness or

mysticism in the scheme is perhaps

attributable to the fact that is the home of

an engineer.

The only slight evidence of spielwitz is the

large area of sliding glazing on the ground

floor, apparently subverting the building’s

monolithic quality and weight. Clearly this

will also have been determined by the

practical desire to admit as much light as

possible into the living and kitchen area and to be able to access the garden and terrace.

Continuity

This is probably the weakest building in the case study in terms of demonstrating an obvious lineage of

continuity. However, the does extend Switzerland’s tradition of innovation in the use of concrete and the

location (built into the side of the mountainside) and typology (a close grouping of monolithic buildings)

does represents a form or urbanistic continuity.

171 Jodidio, p.109.

Figure 61. South Elevat ion, Gartmann House171


71

7G. HAUS RASELLI-KALT IN POSCHIAVO BY CONRADIN CLAVUOT

7G.1 Description

The village of Poschiavo is located in a deep valley, surrounded by peaks rising to 3,000 metres. Haus

Raselli-Kalt, for a family of four, was completed in 2002 and lies at an altitude of 300 metres, amongst a

set of plots for new houses on the outskirts of the village, which, although decreed by a local planner

appear ‘so foreign to the valley’ and its ‘dense and crowded agglomerate’.172 It cost CHF540,000 to

build.173

Figure 62. Site plan174 Figure 63. House from east corner175

172 Conradin Clavuot, translated from German by Claire Booney, ‘Conradin Clavuot, One-family House Raselli-Kalt’, a+u: 10

Architects In Switzerland, 410 (November 2004) 64-69, (p.67).

173 Norbert Mathis, Preisverleihung «MAX»

<http://www.norbertmathis.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/preise/Poschiavo_Baudoc_2007.pdf> [accessed 2 December 2009].

174 Clavuot, a+u: 10 Architects In Switzerland, 410, p.67.

175 Christian Schittich (ed.), ‘House in Li Curt, Conradin Clavout, Chur’, Detail Review of Architecture and Construction Details –

Masonry (English Edition), 6 (2005), 654-659, (p.655).


72

Figure 64. Plans and Sections176

7G.2 Analysis

7G.2.1 Forme forte

The building is isolated in its own plot, in stark contrast to the tight-knit, older part of the village. As the

section shows, the house is sunk into the ground, the street and building blending as you drive directly

onto the roof of the store. House, terrain and street become one.

The external render is coarse and rough. Inside the sanctuary of home, smooth, warm timber dominates.

The deep window openings demonstrate the solidity of the 300mm thick wall structure.

176 Schittich (ed.), ‘House in Li Curt, Conradin Clavout, Chur’, p.654.


73

7G.2.2 Gestalt

As figure 65 shows, the windows are located on a regular grid, but because some have been blanked

out, the symmetry of the building is less evident, and the building becomes ‘more in tune with the local

vernacular’.177

Figure 65. Clavuot’s elevat ional sketches178

7G.2.3 Mysticism + Spielwitz

Aside from the playfulness of the window positioning, the house is deliberately uncomplicated and legible

in plan and in section – so this case study house demonstrates little to analyse under this category.

Continuity

Clavuot has attempted to mend some of the potential damage created by the sparse plots to the west of

the old compact village by building:

…what to Poschiavo [seemed] normal, usual, local, organic. Not the extravagant, but the reticent, the informal, the “unarchitectural”, the unspectacular… [a] house that was subjugated to no fashion, no trend, but simply “the kind in Poschiavo”, the kind the native population would build.179

Internally, the layout harks back to strickbau or Engadine house construction, with solid timber-load

bearing internal walls and services built around the central stair core. Furniture is built into this structure,

it is, like many of the case-study houses already covered in this dissertation, low-frills and unshowy.

The building should represent a neighbour who has ‘only good aspects’.180

177 Schittich (ed.), ‘House in Li Curt, Conradin Clavout, Chur’, p.654.

178 Conradin Clavuot, Conradin Clavuot Architekt, (Zurich: Niggli, 2008), p.161.

179 Clavuot, a+u: 10 Architects In Switzerland, 410, p.67.

180 Clavuot, Conradin Clavuot Architekt, p.213.


74

7H. EXTENSION TO VILLA GARBALD IN CASTASEGNA BY MILLER & MARANTA

7H.1 Description

Like the girls’ dormitory in Disentis, this is not a private dwelling, but rather represents private sleeping

quarters for those attending seminars at the Villa Garbald. The new building was partly financed by ETH

Zurich and Conzett Bronzini Gartmann were the structural engineers. It was completed in 2004.

The village of Castasegna is located on the southern border of Switzerland with Italy. The new tower is

located on the site of a former barn within the grounds of the Villa Garbald, built in 1862 by Gottfried

Semper for the customs officer Agostino Garbald.181

Figure 66. Site plan183 Figure 67. Ground f loor plan, also showing vi l la Garbald and context182

181 Christian Schittich (ed.), ‘Restoration and extension to the Villa Garbald in Castasegna’, Detail Review of Architecture and

Construction Details – Refurbishment (English Edition), 4 (2005), 400-404 (p.401).

182 Ibid., p.400.


75

Figure 68. Plans183 and elevat ions184

183 Miller Maranta Villa Garbald (Ecole Polytechnique Fédéralé de Lausanne Institut d’Architecture et de la Ville)

<http://ltha.epfl.ch/enseignement_lth/theorie/exemples_th1/reg_irreg_1/C_04_MILLERMARANTA/MILLERMARANTA_Villa_Garbald.

pdf> [accessed 2 November 2009].

184 Nobuyuki Yoshida (ed.), ‘Miller & Maranta: Restoration and Extension of the Villa Garbald in Castasegna’, a+u : 10 Architects In

Switzerland, 410 (2004), 90-98, (p.92).


76

Figure 69. Sections185

185 Yoshida (ed.), p.97.


77

7H.2 Analysis

7H.2.1 Forme forte

The building was constructed from in-situ concrete, insulated with foamed-glass186, which was sprayed

by high-pressure water jets shortly after the formwork was removed. The larch shutters, although roller-

folding, also present a very defensive appearance.

Figure 70. Larch rol ler shutters187 Figure 71. East elevat ion188

Figure 72. West elevat ion188 Figure 73. Southwest elevat ion188

With its basement, the tower is deeply embedded into the mountainside – again there is no visible

division between topography and construction in the form of plinth or damp-proof membrane.

186 Schittich (ed.), ‘Restoration and extension to the Villa Garbald in Castasegna’ p.401.

187 Author’s photographs, August 2009.


78

7H.2.2 Gestalt

The deep-set window openings are irregularly placed across the elevation. The sections in figure 69

reveal the way in which the stair core moves within the five storey (plus basement) building, with

numerous half-levels and landings disrupting any obvious symmetry or pattern in the external

appearance. Combined with the kinked roof profile and the non-orthogonal plan, the building is

presented as an indivisible whole, with no clear line of fracture or additive composition.

7H.2.3 Mysticism + Spielwitz

Regarding mysticism, the towering form echoes to some degree images of mountain castles and follies

engendered by Bearth & Deplazes Willimann-Lotscher House at Sevgein, whilst also reflecting north

Italian bird towers known as ‘rocolli’.188 In a form of playfulness, the fireplace – as well as being on the

ground floor in the meeting room, another ‘stube’ or hearth is located on the top floor - inconsistent with

lugging firewood up flights of stairs. It warms a double-height viewing niche with a picture window over

the valley into Italy.

7H.2.3 Continuity

The external concrete render already looks similar to the finishes of the older houses in Castasegna, and

the architects expect that moss will grow in time over the uneven external finish and the larch shutters will

grey up. The building will then ‘harmonize’189 further with the rest of the village.

188 Schittich (ed.), ‘Restoration and extension to the Villa Garbald in Castasegna’ p.401.

189 Ibid.


79

Figure 74. North elevat ion in vi l lage context190

190 Schittich (ed.), ‘Restoration and extension to the Villa Garbald in Castasegna’ p. 403.


80

8. CONCLUSIONS

Despite being a confederation of regions, this dissertation has demonstrated that the Swiss do still have a

set of overriding and unifying national characteristics, the majority of which have evolved out of

Switzerland’s largely unique approach to foreign policy.

Of the eight case study buildings by seven different architectural practices based in the Graubünden,

almost all tested convincingly for evidence of each of the analysis criteria for ‘Swissness’ established in

chapters 5 and 6 – namely, a forme forte, gestalt (or entire totality), spielwitz and mysticism and sitting

above them all, the theme of continuity. The one case study building that did not appear to demonstrate

comprehensive evidence of ‘Swissness’ under this methodology was the house of engineer Patrick

Gartmann in Chur.

The case study houses underscore the points that emerged from the analysis of Swiss literature, culture,

foreign and socio-economic policy in chapter 3 that Swiss people are, above all, highly attuned to the fact

that national and regional identities are in a perpetual state of flux. Consequently, the Swiss recognise

that today represents tomorrow’s history. There is a strong desire to pass on a high quality and

appropriate legacy. Continuity, therefore, is the overriding theme in both the Graubünden and in

Switzerland as a whole.

Switzerland’s ability to enjoy such continuity is a direct product of its neutrality and the degree to which it

is still able to operate as a quasi-island state at the heart of Europe. Neutrality has promoted the

nation’s wealth through private banking, and fostered introspection. This in turn has allowed traditional

artisanal skills and crafts to be preserved at a time when the majority of western nations are outsourcing

production and manufacture to cheaper sources in the quest for lowest cost production. Neutrality and

detachment was epitomised in the 1990s in architecture by the ‘Swiss Box’, whilst simultaneously

reflecting Swiss austerity, precision and discretion, by employing a small palette of tried and tested

materials.

In the first decade of the 21st century, it appears that a growing desire for self-sufficiency, independence

and a distancing from a globalising, homogenising world now represents a significant motivation for both

the Swiss as a nation and at the regional level in the Graubünden. Consequently, the Swiss Box now

appears to have evolved into something more monolithic and opaque – the bunker-like forme forte.

Contemporary Swiss architecture embodies high quality but without being showy and unnecessarily

differentiated. Indeed, the feeling of unity, indivisible totality, or gestalt, is another key element of

Swissness. Assured, yet respectful of its neighbours, the architects of many of the case study houses in

this dissertation are now actively using the restrictions of planning law and tools such as parametric

design to ‘play within the rules’ to root a building in its site – identified as ‘spielwitz’ for the analysis of the

case study houses. In the Graubünden, this playfulness and whimsy is manifested by the strong


81

influence of myth, mysticism and folklore, and its impact on the design of many of the case study houses

is apparent.

All the above factors have all been reinforced by education; and the influence of the architecture

department at ETH Zurich has been particularly significant. The teachings of Miroslav Šik and his analoge

architektur unit involved emphasising national traits, rather than imposing a new, forced, style upon its

students. His former students now form part of a close network of architects currently working in

Graubünden, serving to further strengthen themes from ETH and, therefore, regional and cultural identity.

The vote at the end of November 2009 in Switzerland to ban further minaret construction caused

consternation in some British architectural journals, such as the Architects’ Journal.191 Whilst it is true that

the conditions that have allowed Swiss ideas of continuity and tradition to flourish may have been built on

questionable moral grounds – particularly regarding private banking and the Second World War – it would

be wrong to accuse Switzerland of xenophobia, racism or ‘Islamophobia’ because of this outcome. As

we have witnessed with Martin Heidegger, walking the line of ‘placeness’ is fraught with risks. The desire

to see traditions preserved in the face of an increasingly generic, ‘non-place’ world will inevitably lead to

claims of fascism, racism or nationalism.

Nonetheless, architecture itself more often than not represents the distillation, edification and implicit

sanctioning of the cultural, socio-economic and political environment of where it was built. As such, the

realisation that some of the case study houses in this dissertation represent the physical manifestation of

a bunker mentality – an introspection and conscious disengagement from a world generally more

troubled than the green pastures of the Swiss Alps - may cause some observers of the case study

buildings, and contemporary Swiss architecture as a whole, to stop and reconsider their initial,

architectural, admiration.

191 Rory Olcatyo, Swiss mosque minaret ban is tragic legislation (London, Architects’ Journal, 3 December 2009),

<http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/swiss-mosque-minaret-ban-is-tragic-legislation/5211656.article> [accessed 3

December 2009].


82

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APPENDICES

Sketchbook notes, Vrin, 14 August 2009


90

Biographies of the architects of the case study houses

This information has been largely gleaned from pages 200-207 of Jacques Lucan’s ‘A Matter of Art’.

Bearth, Valentin

1957 Born in Tiefencastel, Graubünden, Switzerland192

1983 Diploma in architecture – ETH Zurich (Professor Dolf Schnebli). Zumthor was

one of the co-examiners for Beath’s disseration project193

1984-1988 Worked in Peter Zumthor’s Atelier in Haldenstein

1988 Opened Bearth & Deplazes in Chur with Andrea Deplazes

2000 Professor at Accademia Architettura, Mendrisio

Caminada, Gion A.

1957 Born in Vrin, Graubünden, Switzerland

Trained as a carpenter

Postgraduate degree from ETH Zurich

1999-now Professor of architecture at ETH Zurich

Collaborations with the engineer Jürg Conzett

Clauvot, Conradin

1962 Born in Davos, Graubünden, Switzerland

1982-1987 Studying architecture at ETH Zurich, having studied under Miroslav Šik and his

thesis project under Professor Fabio Reinhart

1988 Founded his own practise in Chur

1998 Award for New Building in the Alps

1999 Swiss Award for Wood Architecture

2003 Visiting professor at ETH Zurich

192

193 Constructs p.29


91

Collaborates with the engineer Jürg Conzett

Conzett, J ̈̈ürg

1956 Born in Aarau, Aargau, Switzerland

1980 Graduated in engineering from EPF in Lausanne

1981-87 Worked in Peter Zumthor’s office in Haldenstein

1988 Set up practise with Gianfranco Bronzini and Patrick Gartmann in Chur

Deplazes, Andrea

1960 Born in Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland.

1988 Diploma in Architecture, ETH Zurich (Professor F. Reinhart)

1988 Opened Bearth & Deplazes in Chur with Valentin Bearth

1997 – now Professor in Architecture & Construction at ETH Zurich

Gartmann, Patrick

1968 Born

1994 Graduated as a civil engineer

1998 Graduated as architect

1998-2000 Assistant to Valerio Olgiati at ETH Zurich

Collaborations with Conzett, Bronzini and Gartmann

Maranta, Paola

1961 Born in Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland

1986 Graduated from ETH Zurich

1991-1994 Management Consultant at McKinsey in Zurich

2000 Visitng professor at EPF Lausanne

Collaborations with Conzett, Bronzini and Gartmann

Miller, Quintus

1961 Born in Aarau, Aargau, Switzerland



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1990-4 Assistant to Professor Inès Lamunière at EPF Lausanne and ETH Zurich

1994 Started partnership with Paola Maranta in Basel

Collaborates with the engineer J ̈̈ürg Conzett

Olgiati, Valerio

1958 Born in Zurich, Switzerland


1986-7 Assistant to Professor Fabio Reinhart at ETH Zurich

1988-93 Practised in Zurich with Frank Esher

1993-95 Practised in Los Angeles with Frank Esher

1996 Set up own atelier in Flims


Šik, Miroslav

1953 Born in Prague

1979 Graduated from ETH

1983-1991 Assistant to Professor Fabio Reinhart at ETH Zurich

1987 Founded own practice in Zurich


Zumthor, Peter

1943 Born in Basel, Switzerland

1958 Trained as a carpenter

1963 Studied architecture at the Schule für Gestaltung in Basel

1966 Studied at the Pratt Institute in New York

1968-78 Architect for Listed Buildings of the Graubünden canton

1979 Set up practise in Haldenstein

Teaches at Academia di Architettura de Mendrisio


93

Font

This dissertation was set in Helvetica, a font favoured by graphic designers for its timeless modernity and

neutrality, first developed in 1957 in Switzerland.

At 19 minutes 48 seconds into the documentary Helvetica, Mike Parker, Director of Typographic

Development at Mergenthaler Linotype USA 1961-1981 makes a point about the typeface which seems

to echo notions of Gestalt:

When you talk about the design of.... Helvetica, what it’s all about is the interrelationship of the negative shape - the figure ground relationship - the shapes between characters and within characters with the [...] inked surface. And the Swiss pay more attention to the background, so that the counters and the space between characters just hold the letters. You can't imagine anything moving, it’s so firm. It is not a character that is bent to shape; it lives in a powerful matrix of surrounding space.

Documents

Understanding Swiss national identity through recent architecture in the Graubunden