13.03. - 08.05.2016

Spatial Positions 11. This was Tomorrow: Reinventing Architecture 1953-1978

​Opening: 12.03.2016, 7 pm

The S AM presents ‘This Was Tomorrow’ an exhibition by the Drawing Matter collection about architectural imagination, and the power, processes and poetics of creation and invention.
Curated by Markus Lähteenmäki, Manuel Montenegro & Nicholas Olsberg in cooperation with Hubertus Adam, the exhibition presents a series of twelve episodes focused on the period from 1953 to 1978 in the reconsideration of architecture. They all explore the very different ways to activate the potentials of the built environment in reforming the relations of human beings to each other and to their environments -- from Le Corbusier’s final explorations of a new harmony of form to Aldo Rossi’s first evocations of the force of history.

ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMME

12.03.2016, 7 PM: Opening
17.03.2016, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
07.04.2016, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
21.04.2016, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour

THE EXHIBITION IS SUPPORTED BY:

GGG Gesellschaft für das Gute und Gemeinnützige
Panoramah

CREDITS

1. Le Corbusier, Model for Le Main Ouverte, Chandigarh, 1950-1965. © FLC-ADAGP.
2. Le Corbusier, Study Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp, 1950-1955. © FLC-ADAGP.
3. John Hejduk, Silent Witnesses: The Extro-Intro House, 1975. © Estate of the architect.
4. James Gowan, Study for an Expandable House, 1957. © Estate of the architect.
5. Álvaro Siza, Bouça Housing, Porto, c. 1972. © Estate of the architect.
6. Adolfo Natalilni (Superstudio), Study for the Continuous Monument, 1969. © The architect.
7. Walter Pichler, Study for the Underground City, c. 1963. © The artist.
8. Constant, New Babylon, 1963. © Estate of the artist.
9. Michael Webb, Sin Centre, 1961. © The architect.
​10. Hans Hollein, City, Communication Interchange, 1962. © Estate of the architect.

 

Upcoming exhibitions

19.09.2026 - 03.01.2027

Tony Fretton: Practice

Opening: 18/9/2026, 7 PM

The S AM Swiss Architecture Museum is proud to announce PRACTICE, a retrospective exhibition of selected projects of architect Tony Fretton (b. 1945, London). He established Tony Fretton Architects in London in 1984, which ran until 2024. His published texts on architecture are numerous, and he has taught extensively, including as Chair of Interiors Buildings and Cities at the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft, and as guest professor at GSD Harvard, ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne. He lives and works in London.

Fretton’s buildings and projects are presented at S AM through texts, photographs and drawings. Together, they show Fretton’s practice as continuity of reflection on the existing environment, including the social, cultural and political dimensions of the city and what lies outside it.