SWITZERLAND SKETCHBOOK MARK TERRA-SALOMÃO 2015 48-365 | Profs

SWITZERLAND SKETCHBOOK MARK TERRA-SALOMÃO 2015 48-365 | Profs. Kai Gutschow and Jeremy Ficca TABLE OF CONTENTS

It is difficult not to focus on the details in Switzerland, as hackneyed as that may sound. This analysis was accomplished largely through the medium of freehand drawing, of architectural sketching: the complex interaction between light, eye, brain, and hand. This was our assignment, but that’s because it is the best Although, never having visited Switzerland or any of Europe outside of Iberia before, initially I was a bit more struck by way to explore and start to understand that which you do not understand. Consequently the sketches I drew were the grand landscapes and sweeping vistas than details, whether architectural or otherwise. The majesty of the Swiss usually efforts to get at things that at first puzzled me about a particular building or place. I looked at how things go Alps, snowclad well into June, stops your pulse. Rail travel to and from the mountain range is as smooth as a BMW together, how light and point-of-view alter perception of a façade, where birds like to fly into a building and why that on a freshly-paved straightaway. The Helvetian villages are equal parts picturesque and respectable, ancient but not might be, how adjacent buildings speak to each other, whether people use a space as I would, and other issues. abandoned. Indeed, construction and maintenance work never stops, and you wonder how they find time for it all. We were asked to conceive of sketches as tools that instruct as much as they record. I tried to take this to heart, Switzerland’s neighbors are also blessed. The Austrian wildflower meadows invite frolicking despite busybodies’ recording things that can’t be seen through a camera lens or the lenses of my eyes. Occassionally the gestalt image huffing. The French — more liberal with their affections — won’t question seven grown young men washing down pot of a building or landscape was striking enough that I had to try and understand it through drawing, and try my hand at after pot of mussels in cream with beer and wine, but will smile teasingly and knowingly. If Liechtenstein is a joke, recreating it on paper. In many cases — as at La Tourette Monastery in L’Arbresle, France — a central image spawned or it’s a very rich one. Italy — even the little I saw of it — is better than how I always imagined it. Germany made my heart was comprised of hierarchies of details, in the sprit of Carlo Scarpa or, as I said, matching parts to wholes . flutter in rain and shine. Quickly it becomes obvious that these tableaux are best preserved in yourself as cherished memories. Photographs, drawings, prose, verse, and all other media except the complex interaction between light, Each sketch is in part a record and in part instructive, and ultimately I find that they all serve as catalysts for cher- eye, and brain cannot capture the full spectrum of your emotion in such cases. At least not for me. ished memories, even after only a few months since the real thing. They are no substitute for the dreamlike memories of the trip that I replay in my mind’s eye, but they can trigger them. For example, while looking back at sketches from So, I decided to discover and analyze details. Of course, the goal was not to look at details for the sake of looking at Peter Zumthor’s Saint Benedict Chapel is certainly useful in an architectural sense, when looking at them I cannot details, but of fitting parts to wholes. The progression of my thinking was something like this: If I was going to begin help but think of that glorious first day in Graubünden, the hay barns climbing up the Alps like goats, the chapel understanding the landscape, I’d have to begin understanding the lifestyle, and if I was going to understand the life- ringed by cows, their bells clanging inside the sanctuary, the villagers leaving out herbal syrups for you to flavor the style in part I was going to have to peruse the architecture, and if I was going to peruse the architecture I was going to spring water with (as if it needs more flavor!), everything saturated and sensuous, my open-mouthed stare of amaze- have to figure out the ideas behind it, how it was built, and so on. ment dumber than these silly words I’m trying to use to explain what I felt. And I’m not even talking about Morcote!

2 3 None of this is to say I didn’t worry about quantifiable realities. I firmly believe architecture is a balance between the The Switzerland study abroad trip was an excellent experience. The new places visited, new foods consumed, new creative and the straightforward, the artistic and the technical — however you prefer to say it — and neither should be people met, and new (and old!) architecture studied will continue to provide inspiration for a long, long time. It was ignored. A lack of craft can totally stall the expression of a great concept, just as a very well-put-together box doesn’t challenging and therefore rewarding to practice sketching skills and techniques. As exciting as the generative mania guarantee much thinking went behind it. of studio is, sometimes I feel there is not enough quiet time to really think and craft through hand sketching, but such opportunities were abundant in Switzerland. Swiss architecture usually fulfills high technical standards, which is not always the case in the United States, but in many ways it also differs conceptually, even at a basic level. For example, in the United States, safety egress is usual- I’m thankful for the opportunity I had to do all of this with some of my closest friends and colleagues, and wouldn’t ly plopped down as a tower block or core. In Switzerland egress is often conceived of as a clear architectural element trade it for anything. The nights in Basel when the raging Rhine seemed to calm and became a canvas for the impres- or object — as an exterior stair — which makes its function quite obvious. These stairs are well-crafted, really beautiful sionistic bridges and city lights, the buildings forming a constellation city pivoting from a central point on the river, utilitarian objects, with railings and guards used as architectural opportunities. That is an idea I can shamelessly say the duck newlyweds Helga and Olaf swimming their evening stroll, the green trams like clockwork in their patriotic I will apply to future projects, where appropriate. Also, the Swiss put metal sheeting roofs over their bike racks! With FC Basel attire, the whole city turned out to celebrate that same football club’s umpteenth Swiss championship gutters that feed rainwater to pervious surfaces! Each slot in the bike rack is staggered up or down so that the bikes’ victory, and a young group of friends’ labrador retrievers attracted to our cheap German hot dogs and beer will always handlebars don’t tangle up! I’m not sure why I haven’t seen that in the United States; it just makes sense. These are be especially dear to me. Hopefully someday I’ll make it back to many of the places we visited, and to the few we had but two examples of many of the details that to me suggest a larger understanding of the immense possibilities and to leave behind. human experiences that design and architecture can and should accommodate.

In that sense, then, my sketches are not only triggers for good memories or records of my personal working-through A few words about the organization of this booklet: In general, the sketches that follow are grouped by building of how materials meet in a certain condition, but they are also repositories of greater architectural concepts or ideas and location, with locations listed more or less in the chronological order in which we visited them. In some cases I that I had not witnessed before, and which can be applied to design problems in novel ways. Sketching is not about explain the sketches at length so as to link some of the ideas from the sketches and buildings to some of the ideas copying a detail you like: it is about understanding why you like it and applying the idea of that “why” to your own I talked about here in the introduction, and vice versa. Other times I try and let the drawings speak for themselves. work. As always, I strive to fit parts to wholes, and vice versa. Hope you enjoy!

4 5 DAVOS | SUMVITG CH

6 7 8 KIRCHNER MUSEUM | DAVOS, SWITZERLAND | GIGON & GUYER | 1992 something Ilooked for in other buildings. cal andtheartisticof matching parts to wholeswas seems to have succeeded.Thissynthesisofthepracti stand outasan important public building,butZumthor beauty of thevillage withtheneedfor the chapelto lenging to reconcile respect for theimmensenatural Landscape isakey consideration here aswell. Itischal raise asacred platform above theprofane ground. be, astheribsthatform aprotective sanctuaryand but theyalsoreinforce theidea ofwhatachapelshould The pure constructive qualityofthedetails isobvious, creation. Christian metaphors having to dowithships,eggs, and from aconceptualstandpoint —thechapel references shape ismeant to dissipate theforce ofavalanches, and propriate from apractical standpoint —theteardrop strives to beacomplete work, where theform isap we visited andtriedto represent inmysketches. It qualities thatIsubsequentlysoughtoutinotherplaces The SaintBenedictChapelexemplifies many ofthe -

10 11 12 KUNSTHAUS BREGENZ | BREGENZ, AUSTRIA | PETER ZUMTHOR | 1997 guarantees theartisexhibited properly. artificial lighting,analmosteerie idealization that forgotten, withmostof thelightbeingcontrolled read asconcrete atall.Even theglassfaçade is tabulae rasae for theexhibited artwork, andhardly well asthefloorplates themselves becomecreamy and theshear walls holdingupthefloorplates as separate from thepristineconcrete floorplates, dent. Thesteel skeleton ismore orlessstructurally In theinterior, however, very littleofthatisevi the scaffolding, soto speak, behindit. holding uparainscreen façade thatstillreveals the outside,tense steel cablesandcolumns What Imean isthatthestructure ispushedto regard thanthechapel. the Kunsthaus ismore distinctlydualisticinthis this caseamuseum—shouldbe.To me,though, combined withtheideals ofwhatabuilding—in of thetenets ofconstructability andstructure Benedict Chapel,isahighlyrefined expression Zumthor’s Kunsthaus Bregenz, like theSaint - 13 THERME VALS | VALS, SWITZERLAND | PETER ZUMTHOR | 1996 HOLY CROSS CHURCH | CHUR, SWITZERLAND | WALTER FÖRDERER | 1969 CHUR | FLIMS | VALS CH

14 YELLOW HOUSE | FLIMS, SWITZERLAND | VALERIO OLGIATI | 1995 15 ZÜRICH | ETH CH

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20 21 22 KKL LUZERN | LUZERN, SWITZERLAND | JEAN NOUVEL | 1998 the mainauditorium. and aslarge asthepatterned acousticpanels in small asthedivets in theauditorium writingdesks occupant usability,asisthecasewithelements though heseemsto tryandcouchitinterms of In otherwords, Nouvel isnotafraid ofornament, ern equivalent ofParis’s Opéra GarnierinLuzern. trying to pullout allthestops andcreate themod a certain sumptuousnessto itall,asifNouvel is for suchdetails seemsdifferent intheKKL.Isee someone like Zumthoraswell, butthejustification It isfair to say thisdensityofdetail isthecasewith building to themanyguardrails. thing, from theoverall shapeandplanningofthe “hand ofthearchitect” appeared evidentinevery wealth ofdetails for meto study.Theso-called Culture andCongress Center Luzern)provided a The Kultur- undKongresszentrum Luzern(KKL; 23 - - VITRA | WEIL AM RHEIN DE

24 25 26 VITRA CAMPUS | WEIL AM RHEIN, GERMANY | VARIOUS DESIGNERS | 1981 – PRESENT construction. and masscustomization inarchitecture and might beappliedto notions ofprefabrication variations. Itseemslike thisway ofworking address allpossible customer choicesand production is categorized into seven steps that ularly intringuedby how Eamesexecutive chair focused onthedetails aspossible. Iwas partic were, like theirmanufacturing processes, as My observations atVitra’s production facilities 27 - BASEL | BERN CH

28 29 30 TINGUELY MUSEUM | BASEL, SWITZERLAND | MARIO BOTTA | 1996 reinforce theprimacy of theriparian site andcity. Even Jean Tinguely’s kineticfountain sculptures Its form mimicsthe oldboathouses andferries. the buildingseemsto underscore theseflows. exhibition room separated outfrom therest of um’s entrance. Thepeculiar glass-and-concrete pedestrian path flow near andunderthemuse bridges. TheRhineaswell asabusybike and trusses are reminiscent ofthenearby arched The museumissited alongtheriver. Itselliptical Museum. in dialoguewiththeRhine,suchasTinguely at night.More contemporary architecture isalso tions rivaling theworld’s bestartists,especially bridges and boathouses into reflective composi as well, Iwould say. Theriver turnsthecity’sold Basel owes itsarchitectural beauty to theRhine melt oftheAlps. night. Itappeared to discharge theentire snow fell inlove withBasel.TheRhineraged allday and As you probably figured from theintroduction, I - - - but are actuallytiedback to supportingwalls). works (attheGardner, balconies appear to hang um addition inBoston andsomeoftheirother case inRPBW’sIsabellaStewart Gardner Muse or iftheyare heldupby othermeans, asisthe The questioniswhetherthingsare trulyhanging, buildings. ing isevidentthroughout, as inmanyofPiano’s system inaclear hierarchy. Themotifofhang the sensethateverything hangs from theprevious and planofthebuildingare damnnear perfect, in shading, anddisplay surfaces withthestructure The integration ofsytems suchaslighting,sun prints. are ondisplay alongsideKlee’spaintings and Renzo’s impeccableplanninganddetailing skills undulating green roofs ofthemuseum,however, usually high-tech rectangles. Underneath the seem like RenzoPiano’sotherworks, whichare At first glancetheZentrumPaul Kleedoesn’t -

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36 37 38 NOTRE DAME DU HAUT | RONCHAMP, FRANCE | LE CORBUSIER | 1955 39 40 41 HÉRÉMENCE CH

42 43 44 ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH | HÉRÉMENCE, SWITZERLAND | WALTER FÖRDERER | 1971 frame viewsofthevillage. just asthechurch itselfhasexterior “windows” that while thecross willbeframed by village buildings, allows itto blendinto the context. Every onceina Hérémence, thevillage’s quasi-terraced topography quite different visuallyfrom mostofthe buildingsin the nearby schoolandshops.WhileSt.Nicholasis The exterior spaces are quite well integrated with appropriate to abuildingatthecenter ofdailylife. quality ofthechurch orcongregation, andseems every elementofachurch represents anecessary cathedrals (asexplained by ErwinPanofsky), where modern interpretation ofthescholasticismGothic are integrated into thestructure. To methisseemsa while paying homage to theircraft. Thedetails here vernacular constructionsoftherest ofthevillage the interior beliesthestructurally straightforward fabrication ishard to imagine.Thecomplexity of like thisinatimebefore digital representation and The effort necessaryto designandbuildsomething Hérémence’s St.NicholasChurch isamasterwork. 45 CH LAUSANNE | EPFL The Rolex Learning Center is probably the most disorienting building I’ve ever been in, save the subbasements of Doherty Hall here at CMU. The EPFL ROLEX LEARNING CENTER | LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND | SANAA 2010 building was filled with maps of itself and it was still hard to navigate.

As I tried to show in the sketch at left, it is obvious when you explore the entire building that there are nodes of activity. People tend to occupy the flatter areas, while the curved areas are almost completely abandoned, or occupied by one or two people taking a nap.

From an ethical standpoint — in terms of accessi- bility, organization, and economics — I can’t agree with making a building have curved floors at an angle at which most people, and especially people with limited mobility, can’t comfortably traverse those surfaces, thereby requiring a secondary ramp system that ruins the clarity of the curved floor idea in the first place. In the end, the users vote with their feet; no one occupies the curves.

46 47 LA TOURETTE FR

48 49 50 SAINTE MARIE de LA TOURETTE | L’ARBRESLE, FRANCE | LE CORBUSIER | 1960 51 52 53 FIRMINY FR

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57 SAINT-PIERRE | FIRMINY, FRANCE | LE CORBUSIER & JOSÉ OUBRERIE | 1971 - 2006 56 LYON FR

58 59 60 MUSÉE des CONFLUENCES | LYON, FRANCE | COOP HIMMELB(L)AU | 2014 61 MORCOTE CH

62 63 64 MEDIEVAL URBAN FABRIC of MORCOTE, SWITZERLAND geometric reality. and isnotnecessarilyrepresentative of paths Itook was distorted by myperceptions, raphers didinParis. Asaresult themapof perhaps asGuyDebord andthepsychogeog mid-afternoon stroll through thetown, it mightbelike ifyou were taking your In Morcote Itriedto capture thespiritofwhat - 65 CASA del FASCIO (CASA del POPOLO) | COMO, ITALY | GIUSEPPE TERRAGNI | 1936 COMO IT

66 67 BRIAN & SAM | A TRIBUTE

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2015