Opening of the exhibition ‘What if’
7 PM
We cordially invite you to the opening of the exhibition ‘What If – Unbuilt Architecture in Switzerland’ with opening speeches from S AM Director Andreas Ruby, S AM Dep. Artistic Director and exhibition curator Andreas Kofler as well as other guests.
Very few countries give their population such a far-reaching democratic right of co-determination in the realisation of architecture and urbanism as does Switzerland. While this has produced a democratically approved architecture that is unique in the world, it has also prevented numerous projects from becoming part of the country’s built history.
Whether lost, rejected, stalled or changed … there is a multitude of architectural designs that continue to be talked about to this day in Switzerland, even though they have never been executed. Those longed for, but not realised works are not single episodes but part of the everyday life of any architecture office, no matter how spoilt with success it may be.
In dialogue with almost two dozen architectural institutions from all parts of the country, ‘What If’ attempts to make a representative selection from an nearly infinite pool of projects. These projects combined draw a picture of an alternative Switzerland, in which the courage to embrace utopia is greater than the fear of avoiding mistakes.
The exhibition and publication are conceived in cooperation with Architektur Forum Ostschweiz, Architekturforum Biel / Forum de l’architecture Bienne, Architekturforum im Touringhaus Solothurn, Architekturforum Obersee, Architekturforum Thun, Architekturforum Zürich, ArchitekturForumBern, Archives de la construction moderne (Acm) & Archizoom, Archivio del Moderno, BauForumZug, Das Gelbe Haus, FAR Forum d’Architectures, Forum Architektur Winterthur, Glarner Architekturforum, gta Exhibitions, Istituto Internazionale di Architettura (i2a), Fondation Pavillon Sicli, Schaffhauser Architektur Forum, Teatro dell’architettura, ZAZ Bellerive – Zentrum Architektur Zürich.
Photo: Neues Schauspielhaus (Revised project, 1969), Jørn Utzon
Zurich, 1963–1973
Source: Baugeschichtliches Archiv der Stadt Zürich
