01.11.2014 - 22.02.2015

Constructing Text. Swiss Architecture Under Discussion

Architects are visually informed people, and the fact that the present is strongly informed by visual media has drawn worldwide attention to an iconic architecture in the recent past. Nevertheless, text is also an important medium for architecture. It contributes to mediation wherever plans are not adequate and images play a subordinate role, if any – for instance on the radio or in daily newspapers. It can serve the purpose of localisation and classification of architectural positions, for instance in journals and books. However, text can also be a helpful tool for architects, with which to reflect on their own work in an abstract manner. At the same time, there are very different kinds of text and very different attitudes: description, analysis, essay, polemic, slating review…

The intention of the exhibition "Architecture and text" is to use selected examples to clarify how architecture can be spoken and written about. After the exhibition "Building images" in winter 2012/2013, S AM director Hubertus Adam is thus examining another medium that is important to architecture, and assessing its relevance and potential.

 

Accompanying Programme:

31.10.2014, 7 PM: Opening
06.11.2014, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
13.11.2014, 2-7 PM: Writing Class
20.11.2014, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
27.11.2014, 7 PM: Literature Quartet
04.12.2014, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
15.01.2015, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
16.01.2015, 6 PM - 2 AM: Basel Museums Night
22.01.2015, 7 PM: Panel Discussion
29.01.2015, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
29.01.2015, 7 PM: Guided Architecture & Graffiti Tour
05.02.2015, 7 PM: Lecture
08.02.2015, 10 AM - 12 PM: Text Workshop for Children
12.02.2015, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
18.02.2015, 10 AM - 12 PM: Wednesday Matinee

The Exhibition is supported by:

Kulturförderung Kanton Graubünden / SWISSLOS
Kulturförderung Kanton Luzern / SWISSLOS
Stiftung für Medienvielfalt
Möbel Pfister AG
Philips AG
 

Upcoming exhibitions

27.09. - 09.11.2025

SAY Swiss Architecture Yearbook

5.30 PM Booklaunch,  7 PM Opening

The second edition of the Swiss Architecture Yearbook is here (available from September 26)!
An independent selection committee chose 30 projects and four special mentions from a pool of 158 nominations. The accompanying exhibition at the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel showcases Baukultur from all regions of Switzerland. The show is an invitation to reflect on central questions in contemporary architecture: Which topics are relevant today? Which projects demonstrate exemplary solutions? And what might the future hold for building in Switzerland?
Curated by the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum and the magazine werk, bauen+wohnen.​

Publication: S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum (Andreas Ruby) and werk, bauen + wohnen (Roland Züger), on behalf of Stiftung Architektur Schweiz SAS (Eds.): ‹SAY 2025/26›.
Park Books, ISBN 978-3-03860-456-3, 272 Pages, EN/DE/FR/IT, CHF 49.–

29.11.2025 - 19.04.2026

Housing for Housing: The cooperative as a laboratory for coexistence

The exhibition presents cooperative housing regionally, nationally and internationally as a laboratory of non-profit-oriented cohabitation from which the entire city can benefit.