Lighting the blue touch paper

arq . vol 13 . no 1 . 2009 design20

Platt and Spier Lighting the blue touch paper, and building well

1

[] conceive the building in the imagination, not on paperbut in the mind, thoroughly before touching paper. Let it livethere gradually taking more definitive form beforecommitting it to the draughting board. When the thing livesfor you start to plan it with tools. Not before [] It is best tocultivate the imagination to construct and complete thebuilding before working on it with T-square and triangle []1

Frank Lloyd Wright, 1928

Architectural practice has become considerablymore complex in the last twenty years, not tomention since the days of Wright. Many moreprofessions are involved in realising a building, andthe construction industry has becomeprofessionalised in areas such as health and safety,management training and continuing professionaldevelopment. Procurement methods for buildings

are proliferating and roles for all involved changing,especially for the architect. Shorter timescales arecommon and there is a general consensus that, inthe uk at least, there is a serious skills shortage in theindustry and a decline in the quality of the buildingtrades. The industry has become both more litigiousand more international.

The numerous government reports on the post-war UK building industry have the recurring themesof procurement, relationships among the buildingprofessions and industry performance.2 The mostrecent, Constructing the Team from 1994 (The LathamReport) and Rethinking Construction of 1998 (The EganReport) for example, focused on the need tointegrate the construction process to the benefits ofclients, and, delivering greater value [] by focusingattention on the need to meet functional business

design arq . vol 13 . no 1 . 2009 21

designAn exploration into how the culture of quality construction

in Switzerland has inuenced three generations of architects in

initiating and sustaining their design process.

Lighting the blue touch paper, and building wellChristopher Platt and Steven Spier

1 e2a: project andskills-specic staffare needed

2 Partners key role isto communicate atdifferent levels2

needs within a tighter budget.3 No reports start fromthe fundamental question, however, of how we canbuild better buildings and spaces; in short, betterarchitecture. Rather, the major quality criterion insuch reports is client satisfaction or industry profit,neither of which necessarily contributes to a betterbuilt environment. The issue of quality ofarchitecture is left to government guidelines oradvisory bodies.

What constitutes quality in architecture and how itcan be measured is a complex theoretical andmethodological issue that deserves further study.4 Itmight be useful too to look at the issue intuitively, tointerrogate an architecture culture such asSwitzerlands that has been renowned for decades forthe quality of construction (and which is self-evidentwhen you are there). What are the conditions thatcontribute to the high quality of Swiss building, andmore importantly for this paper, what effect does ithave on how Swiss architects design? The answer tothe first part of that question is more thancontractual but heavily cultural.

If creativity, as Toynbee argues, is mankindsultimate asset,5 then how a creative process is

initiated is fundamentally important tounderstanding that asset. In addressing these issueswe chose to interview three different types andgenerations of practices in German-speakingSwitzerland an important emerging practice, a well-regarded and established one, and a world-classarchitect and to focus on how they begin to design.It turns out to be heavily influenced by the structuresand relationships within the building industry.

Wallaces (1926)6 four stages of problem solving still seem germane: (1) preparation; (2) incubation;(3) illumination; and (4) verification. Many notablescientists have even claimed that finding problems is more creative and more important than solvingthem.7 What is the stimulus that starts the processthat hopefully ends with a completed building?Inspiration, the so-called creative flush, can becaricatured by Mendelsohns classic sketch of theEinstein Tower, which is assumed to have been drawnat the beginning of the design process. Pregnantwith possibilities, it hints that the building has beenconceived in awesome totality and somehowcontains the buildings dna. It seems to supportWrights advice quoted at the beginning of this



3

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3 Houses are vehiclesto explorearchitecturalnarratives and

4 offer differentopportunities due todirect involvementwith user and maker

paper that a period of gestation is required before acreative piece of work is ready to be born and start onits way to realisation, the phase of consciousdevelopment towards full maturity.

e2a, Piet EckertIntelligent people are those who somehow acquire theskills that lead to their fitting into existing environments.8

e2a was established by brothers Wim and Piet Eckertin 2001 and has won a considerable number ofcompetitions, the most prominent to be realisedbeing the Heinrich Bll Foundation, headquartersfor the German Green Party, in Berlin in 2008. Theoffice has about thirty employees. For us e2aexemplifies not only a young, ambitious practice butalso the opening up of Switzerland, until recently arather homogeneous and culturally insular country.Piet Eckert was born in Mumbai, studied at the eth inZurich and then worked for two years for oma inRotterdam, an office which especially then put agreat deal of emphasis on conception and little onthe art of building. Wim Eckert likewise worked atoma after graduating from the eth.

Cultural differences and collaborationThe office has built primarily in Switzerland but alsoin Germany, which together with their experience atoma gives them insights into building in differentcountries. While in Switzerland it is still possible todiscuss a detail with a craftsman before it is finalised,Eckerts experience in the Netherlands is that, thereare no craftsmen left and no more coming. Heclaims that an architect there is seldom involvedbeyond the 1:100 stage. Indeed, within theNetherlands architects often say that the prevalenceof high concept architects is in inverse relationshipto the quality of construction. Ignorance eventuallybreeds resignation and then indifference.

The architect in Switzerland, by contrast, hastraditionally also been responsible for theconstruction, working directly with trades on detailsand quantities. (The architects fee has traditionallybeen correspondingly generous by Europeanstandards.) It is still common for a contractor (andhis subcontractors) to meet the architect to agree thequality and degree of difficulty at the verybeginning. This is a genuine exchange that attemptsto bring conciliation rather than compromise to theprocess; a willingness to find common solutions andestablish their shared ambition for the project. Thisstructure of cooperation fundamentally influenceshow e2a designs. To learn and then to construct,thats what craftsmanship is This is something weactively bring into the design process Eventuallythe guy that builds it is important, because withouthim we cannot solve the detail. This closerelationship between architect and builder islikewise integral to architectural education at theETH with its emphasis on producing a technicallyhighly competent all-round practitioner, though hefeels this is beginning to change.

Eckert is convinced that the differences betweenbuilding in Switzerland and the Netherlands are atleast as much cultural as contractual. The

willingness to invest the necessary time and energyin finding common ground is inherently Swiss. In arecent auditorium project in Switzerland, forexample, he condemned the first attempt at acomplex in situ concrete wall, after which thecontractors reviewed the problem, developed newdetails themselves and rebuilt the wall to thearchitects final satisfaction. The initial crisis wasturned into a productive relationship, with thecontractor in the end being praised for and proud ofthe quality of the wall. He considers this kind ofcreative engagement with the makers of the buildingunique to Switzerland. The practices experiencebuilding the Heinrich Bll Stiftung exposed suchcultural differences:

In Switzerland we dont like to fight against each other But in Germany you fight They are our neighbours buteverything works differently in Germany, everything. Andso we have to adapt and we have to learn and thats whatwe try to do We learnt to negotiate in Switzerland. InGermany no one negotiates with the German contractor;we just nail things down. In Switzerland we respond to abrief, we develop the details and its clear. The public relieson the architect. Your competence is not questioned. InGermany you are totally questioned. Basically you areredundant. So this is a different condition.

Agility and opennessThe practices experience in Berlin exposed otherfundamental differences in building abroad. For onething, the budget was approximately a third of thatof a similar Swiss building. Initial tenders returnedsix million Euros over budget. Typically for e2a theysolved this by rethinking the architectural strategyrather than the architecture, reconceptualising thebuilding through three key headings: efficiency,effectiveness and sufficiency. Focusing onsufficiency, they persuaded the client to build aWerkstatt (workshop) rather than a nice officebuilding and so save money without losingarchitectural character. The result is a rigorous andobvious distinction about where they chose to spendmoney. Eckert thinks that there is a significantdifference between the budgetary and qualityconstraints in Switzerland that his generation has todeal with and those of the last generation. The daysof generous Swiss budgets are perhaps over. If so, thatnecessitates a different way of designing, withstrategic thinking an increasingly important skill ofthe architect: You say creative process, which soundsvery nice This is not necessarily pleasant But youhave to learn to anticipate.

New tools for new situationsThe impression Piet Eckert gives is of an architectseeking to retain design quality in a fast-changingprofessional world, one different from his originalexpectations but arguably more normal. (Hisdescription of using designing houses as an ideaslab is the closest he comes to the notion ofauthorship described by Zumthor below.) Thereremains, however, an unquestioned ambition tobuild well even if the increasingly dynamic andunpredictable process of procurement and

design arq . vol 13 . no 1 . 2009 23

Lighting the blue touch paper, and building well Platt and Spier

realisation has left him with neither fixed methodsnor an identifiable signature; rather, a needed agilityto anticipate where obstacles might lie.

One example is in how e2a structures the work inthe office. In much contemporary architecturalpractice the terminology design-stage drawings andproduction information drawings (described in therecent past as working drawings) suggests a clearseparation in the architectural process between acreative mind at work at the beginning and atechnical one later. In many offices, this latter stagewill be carried out by different people from thoseinvolved in the earlier stage, sometimes even by adifferent profession, and not uncommonly by officesin different countries altogether. And professionalsdo naturally develop specialisations and find nichesbased on their own specific abilities and experiences.Staff at e2a do not necessarily work on a project fromits beginning to its realisation.

Instead, they often work on projects only for aspecific stage or problem but without becomingnarrowly specialised:

An architect is on a project and then hes on anotherproject; but hes always with e2a I want to have thisoscillation. If I have a problem with a pitched roof thatdoesnt want to look like this but to look like this, I cannotleave it to someone who has never built a pitched roofbefore. I need to have someone with me at that momentwho knows such a problem and can get it right [1].

The mixing of talents and skills is seen as a keyresource: Now we have a real composition ofcompletely different types of people. For Eckert thedetailing and construction part of a project alsoneeds a lot of ideas and the person working onthem is also a designer, though a designer withdifferent skills.

Leadership, communication and the roles of thearchitectSustaining the continuity of conceptualdevelopment of a project with a team that is in flux isperhaps one of the brothers most important roles. Itinvolves mediating, inspiring and briefing staff whojoin the project at different stages. We communicatethis through language, drawings, sketches,corrections [2]. Eckert sees this as a central role,within and outside of the office: Architects I thinkbecome mediators. You have to sell it a hundredmillion times. First outside to a client. If you fail inexciting them you have missed the engagement withthe project. This constant probing and pulling apartof a project is such a part of the offices workingmethod that e2a produces two house projects everyyear for their role as prototypes or test laboratories,a fruitful setting for exploring architecturalnarratives due to the more direct contact with usersand makers as well as more relaxed timescales [3, 4].Architectural competitions have been a verysuccessful vehicle for e2A to grow and develop soquickly, even if they have the disadvantage that adesign has been developed without any major inputfrom a client. Eckert attributes their success incompetitions to their ability to make clear what thestrategy of the brief is as a consequence of their skill

in working simultaneously from a distance andfrom close up I dont see the building in itsentirety.

How to retain design quality without sacrificinggrowth was an explicit issue for e2a at the beginning.The biggest difference between the small-office phaseat the beginning and now is, the lack of interest inthe beauty of the drawing. Eckert describes howbefore the general use of the computer considerabletime and energy was invested in the production ofhandcrafted drawings, whether in pen and ink orcharcoal or montage. While remembering thatperiod fondly he also describes it as a mixture of self-indulgence and nostalgia. He considers it unhelpfulto get attached to specific tools and workingmethods because then, we are not really in discoverymode. Each project uses different means for itsdevelopment, but each begins in the same way, withan interrogation, either verbal and/or visual, of thereal brief to discover the key constraints:

We do it in terms of sparring, me and my brother. We try to elaborate, before we design, what we have tobring as an answer We like problems. We like to dealwith problems in order to find a solution that could kindof magically solve it. The real brief basically says what is important for a project.

Rethinking prioritiesThat initial sparring is an important part of theirdesign process. It is a crucial and creative activity thateither partner initiates in order to understand,What is the work; what is the answer we have to givethe client. But different contexts seem to demanddifferent methods. Eckert acknowledges that thereare favourite materials and technologies in the officebut the search for a projects most pressing criteriadetermines that each project is examined on a case-by-case basis. If you always end up using the samemethodology you become repertoire architects [5].And we try to fight this a lot. He comfortably invokesthe word opportunistic to describe their open-endedapproach:

Im trying to say the material itself is not necessarily thedriver of a project. Sometimes its something else and thematerial will come as a logical consequence. Or sometimesit becomes an extreme driver of it and everything else isnot so important. Im trying to say that we are notfollowing a doctrine, that we are only interested instructure, or only interested in the phenomenological ideaabout a material, or so on. So we keep that completely



5

open, and we deal with those factors extremelyopportunistically.

For suburban projects the first approach must helpavoid predictable outcomes since the context is soconstraining. For urban projects Eckert describes,generating and comparing references andsketching too. But diagrammatic sketching notlyrical sketching transferred directly to an urbanmassing model. For instance, in the competition forthe Green Party Headquarters in Berlin, the HeinrichBll Stiftung, their reaction to an aspect of thecompetition brief that referred to the work of Mies inBerlin while simultaneously demanding in effect anoffice building on a tight budget prompted amontage of the Seagram Building and theFarnsworth House.

We tried to find an idea, or an approach for this little site We called this montage the Miesology because we didnot want to think about his architecture [6] This is amasterpiece. But by composing out of differentarchitectural masterpieces from one architect we found anew tool to develop a strategy for a project with extremebudget constraints.

While the montage helped them to get started, theyclaim it didnt help them to progress the designfurther. They had to get rid of the collage and findnew ways of interpreting the image in order todevelop their proposal. That said, in the resultantbuilding you can discern the logic of the montage,with clear vertical and horizontal masses and thelatter functioning almost like the living room andfitted out more representationally [7].

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5 There are favouritematerials, but newtools are alwayssought

6 Green PartyHeadquarters, Berlin,the Miesologycompetitionmontage

7 The nished building

Bearth & Deplazes Architekten, Andrea Deplazes You have to construct what you think This is absolutelywhat Im interested in. I want to try things out.

Bearth & Deplazes Architekten was founded in 1988by Valentin Bearth and Andrea Deplazes in Chur, and now includes a third partner Daniel Ladner [8].Stylistically eclectic, their work can be characterisedby an interest in the creative potential ofconstruction to generate architectural ideas. Indeed,Deplazes is professor for architecture andconstruction at the eth and the author of the award-winning book, Constructing Architecture from Materialsto Structures, a construction textbook that usesarchitecture as its starting point. Bearth is professorat the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio, where heis currently the director. Their work has been widelypublished.

The interest in construction and how that caninfluence design can be seen in the Meuli House in Flsch (19972001) [9]. At a very early stagematerials and construction were in effect beingconsidered in an elemental way: should it be a heavybuilding, plastic, or is it very thin? The house wasdeveloped with an insulated masonry constructionbut it had no weight I knew that something wasmissing but I couldnt say exactly what. Whileattending a site excavation of another projectDeplazes observed some foam glass on site andthought of mixing the foam glass with the concreteto act as an insulator, which would mean a buildingof massive, poured concrete. The technology fordoing this did not exist but the officecharacteristically displayed a willingness to follow an instinct, confident it could translate it intoconstruction. To set a project in motion is, to think about what you really want.

Atmospheres and awarenessDeplazes attributes this openness to his studentexperience with Analoge Architektur at the ETH. Thiswas a movement at the ETH that consciously opposedprescriptive Modernist dogma with the invitation toexplore any architecture for ideas but especially theunspectacular and the peripheral. At a school wherea central project, after Bernhard Hoesli, was to makeModernism teachable, such an approach clearly hadthe character of a rebellion. Focusing onatmospheres and experiences rather than a formalarchitectural language or doctrine, it emphasisedmoody perspectives and used storyboards to conveynarrative. This openness, however, also created theproblem of how to decide, in making a choiceprocess. He recalls how this problem found awelcome home in the office of Peter Zumthor, wherehe and other students worked, at a time whenZumthor was beginning to clarify the direction inwhich he wished his own work to develop. (He wasdealing with rural influences, Tendenza influences,and then we came as students with our logosapproach and he was absolutely fascinated becausehe saw that something was going on.)

Authorship and methodWithin the office Deplazess role is as initiator of theinitial concept and editor of its development.Following a period of collating informationregarding a clients requirements and the siteconditions, he or Bearth will begin sketching roughideas for a possible design [10, 11]. Those roughsketches are then worked up more precisely beforethe partners involve someone else from the office,who will generally start building a model or drawingit with the computer. Further sketching by the



8 9

partners follows until, ... the essence of theconceptual idea is found, though Deplazes deniesthere is a specific methodology that we always use.While he describes the importance of being open toideas, he certainly does not invite the office for anideas free-for-all at the beginning of a project. Putbluntly, Im not interested in trial and error in thissense. For example, give ten people a rough sketchand see what comes out. That we can do in the firstyear course to push students, but in the office we donot have the time to work like this. And its not ademocratic process. He only involves others, be itoffice colleagues or consultants, when he is clearabout the projects storyboard. This is important forthe projects realisation and is the privilege of beingthe boss. As he puts it, Thats the reason I chose tobecome an architect and not a lawyer its not ademocratic process. I do not start with a hearing;bring in the civil engineers, bring in psychologistsand whomever and we have a nice party.

Retaining involvement and authority throughoutIn Zumthors office Deplazes learned to work outdetails with craftsmen, a process he still employs inhis own office. But this has nothing to do with aninterest in traditional crafts but in the craftsmanshipof building. Therefore, he has naturally becomeinterested in research at the eth in robotics: Why amI interested in robots? Not because I am interested intechnologies per se [12, 13]. It is an important thing asan architect, to be part of the process until thebuilding is realised. If you are not you have nocontrol I want to be a part of the realisation processuntil the last thing is done. Very clearly the goal is tobuild well but the means to be able to do so arechanging. Through his professorship at the ETH

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10 11

12

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8 Bearth & Deplazes:design processalways initiated byone of the partners

9 Meuli House, Flsch:construction asgenerator forarchitectural ideas

10 Deplazes initialsketches for Carmennachairlift station

11 exploringrelationship of formand landscapesearching for thestoryboard

12 Robotic bricklaying in conjunction witheth ...

13 allowing architectgreater control of the realisationprocess

Deplazes was also exposed to complex simulationprograms where lots of data on a project from structures to cost is held together. Suchprograms allow the consequences of design changes and developments across a number of areas to be explicit during the development process.



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14 Meuli House andWinery: nal feel aswell as nal lookinuenced by latedecisions

15 concerningmaterials andtechnology and ...

16 how they areexploited

17 An awareness thatdesign criteria canvary from publicprojects ...

18 to domestic projects

Again, he sees such technology as empowering thearchitect as the person who is able to manipulatesuch information. He or she is suddenly importantin the process. Such a program in his view is animportant tool to assist the creation of this complexthing called architecture, hopefully allowing thearchitect greater control throughout the entirerealisation process, a fast-diminishing phenomenonin todays building industry. Clearly he thinks the link between design and construction is crucialand in his opinion one in which Switzerland is aEuropean leader. As a professor he considers itfundamental to enable students to developarchitecture in a physical way and not only in the thinking.

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For someone so interested in the architecturalpossibilities of construction, so-called workingdrawings can of course be a phase when there is amoment of discovery, though if then you have foundout a fundamental problem you have made afundamental mistake. Although he denies thatanything fundamental in his practices work getsdecided at this stage, the fundamental character ofboth the house and subsequent winery [14, 15, 16], toname two projects, owes a great debt to late decisionsconcerning the use of concrete in the house androbotic bricklaying to create the undulating brickpanels within a simple concrete frame of the winery.He declares the importance of establishing keyconstruction details to help guide the project: Keydetails are obviously those details that influenceeverything back to the conceptual idea. If they arenot right you have a mess. These are finalised by thevery latest at the specification/tender stage so thatthey can be priced by a contractor. Nevertheless, hesenses when there is something missing in a projectwithout always knowing what. His colleagues jokethat he has a look in his eye when he wishes tochange things in a project, and he is willing to delaythe progress of the project until that missingingredient is found.

Discovering on the jobThe development of the details of the project is donewith the input of craftsmen, which is a more accurateword in this instance than the British trades. In hisown house a key detail is the rounded, shingle-cladwindow reveals. First sketches of the house were of acubic, timber-framed and shingle-clad house but itwas too hard, too cubic and we wanted to be softer at

the edges. The area in which the house is sited had acraftsman who produced shingles, and early on it wasdecided to work with him to develop this detail. ForDeplazes, the shingles coming to the edge provoked aproblem that we did not want to solve with a fussydetail driven by overly technical thinking. Like Eckerthe feels that houses generate a different set of designcriteria than public buildings. His key criteria for thehouse in Flsch are of a different order intellectuallyand experientially than, say, the criteria for a lowenergy Regional Headquarters of the KK health-insurer in Landquart (20002002) [17,18]. In theformer, Deplazes was concerned with mass andatmosphere while in the latter with what aspectscould be controlled and what aspects the architecthad little influence over. Construction is thus notonly a technical problem, its more often a culturalquestion.

The secret pact between architect and builderThe willingness and expectation of a Swiss architectand Swiss building contractor to engage indeveloping the detailed design of a project clearlyinfluences the design process and is as muchcultural as contractual. This was clear in the firmsexperience of building in Germany. Deplazesdescribes a system of trust in Switzerland betweenarchitect and builder due to the shared ambition ofwanting to do a good job. He also regards the Swisstradition of architects costing a project as crucial. InGermany by contrast, he found a culture ofmistrust, where contracts are drawn up assumingthe worst-case scenario rather than asencouragement or protection for a collaborativespirit of endeavour. This fundamentally different



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culture necessitates a different way of designing. Forone thing, the lack of opportunity in Germany todiscuss problems and solutions with a buildingcontractor means that, you have to be absolutelyprecise with everything before you take the next step You have to be really sure about everything, thatyou really want to have it that way. You have to fix itin advance in a way that nothing then happens onsite. In other words, there is less chance ofinnovation and no chance of developing solutionsover a longer timescale with those who will build theproject. The DIN culture (Deutsches Institut frNormung, the German Institute for Standardisation)means that everything must fit that DIN and youcannot change it.

Atelier Zumthor, Peter ZumthorPeter Zumthors international renown has beenestablished by a remarkably small group ofcompleted buildings, located mostly in Switzerlandand all in German-speaking Europe [19]. Eachbuilding has an intense though understated presenceand is precisely executed formally and in terms ofconstruction, often in one dominant material. Unlikeother architects with international reputations,Zumthor keeps a low profile, practises from a modestvillage outside the cantonal capital of Chur, andcarefully controls publicity. Despite the collaborationnow of some eighteen assistants he considers himselfa sole practitioner. He is also particular about thetype and terms of the commissions he accepts,fiercely protecting the way he works, includingtimescales. Even within Switzerland, he is considereda maverick and by his own admission isuncompromising about how he does things.

Lighting the blue touch paperOn receiving any invitation to design a buildingZumthor cites the importance of having an idearight at the beginning. If this doesnt happen hetakes it as an omen to decline the commission. It hasto be there from the beginning otherwise were notstarting. The project has to be alive from thebeginning. Searching around in the fog doesnthappen. By idea he means not an intellectualconcept but images full of atmosphere. Often theyare drawn from his own memories and experienceseven if they are not personal but architectural.9 Butwhat prompts that initial design process is based ontwo mundane aspects that he considers mostimportant in building architecture:

There are no methods and Im not interested in methods.The initial impulse is always use and place. I work forclients and they want something that has a use. Buildingshave a place. So I like to think about the use and the place.What makes the first idea, what makes the first spark; thisis always different, you never know.

Architectural auraThe atelier/house he has recently completed isunusual in that Zumthor was both client andarchitect, making it a good vehicle for exploring how he designs and the importance of construction[20, 21]. His buildings tend to have a reduced paletteof primary materials and could be mistaken forbeing essays in those materials. The atelier/house, forexample, is constructed of reinforced concrete and itis easy to imagine that the building was conceivedearly on that way. Zumthor strongly resists even thedescription of the house as concrete and also thenotion that there is a precise moment whenmaterials are defined.

The concept behind the building as he describes it is more about an elemental feeling than about aspecific material: This is about a big mineralic kindof idea. A lot of caves. (It could have been stone.) Butwith different linings. Pressed to describe the imagesor atmospheres he was seeking to build, he describes:

a spatial feeling a composition of inside volumes,completely differently shaped. They would be long andtall, narrow, wide and so on. They would be completelydifferent in their inner linings and character andatmosphere, light quality and so on. And they would beconnected to small transitional spaces, a sculptural kindof feeling. Because of the idea, there is something formyself like a glove, like an organism. The first drawingstalk about that. Its a feeling about moving through thisorganism.

Even more specifically he describes seeking thefollowing atmospheres and programmes already atthis first stage:

One, intimacy; being in an organism of spaces. Travelling a sort of having to walk and go through spaces. Some

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19 Atelier Zumthor,Kolumba Museum,Cologne: understatedpresence executed inone dominantmaterial

20 Atelier, House:monolithic structureadjacent to barn-likeearlier atelier ...

21 displays Zumthorsarchitecturaldevelopment in thatperiod

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would have colours, dark wood, light wood, morning sun.One would be a living room, one would be a workingroom, one would be a kitchen.

Referring to the exhibition of his work then on at theKunsthaus Bregenz, which he also designed, he refersto the models for the project: You saw a set of smallmodels; tiny, concrete blocks. Inside you could seered and blue [22]. This is the beginning. Its all there.One of many memorable aspects of this retrospectiveexhibition was the fact that all the works exhibited(with the exception of the specially-commissionedfilm sequences) were drawings and models takendirectly from the office. Nothing was specially madefor it. The variety and directness of these artefactscontrasted profoundly with the calm perfection ofthe gallery itself. Zumthor seemed sure that thecontrast between all that was unfinished would becompleted in some way by the setting of the finishedbuilding itself [23, 24, 25].

The personal and the generalWhat then, is the importance of construction qualityand how does one of his projects take material form?Zumthor sees himself as, a composer/conductor. Icompose my pieces and then rehearse them with allmy soloists in the orchestra. My projects are underdevelopment until they are finished The orchestraincludes not only those in the office but those whowill build it as well.

In the office he now has some eighteen (generallyyouthful) assistants and he is clear about how heworks with them and in what way he needs theirinvolvement. It sounds like a proper atelieratmosphere:

I cannot have many people. This is the limit I can handle. Igo around and talk to these guys or those guys. How areyou doing? Where are we? Then we work together for anhour or two or three and talk and look. I dont come withan idea in my head and say, I have the solution to theproblem. They have to be willing to help me. They enjoyhelping me. I listen to them. I ask them what do you think.Theyre not just pencils. I ask these guys what they think,this or this or this? And I like to listen to their opinions.Well not so much opinions, maybe feelings or something,reactions, initial emotional reactions. I dont like it like inthe university; an intellectual answer, thought-out, atalking head. Im not interested in this but in initialemotional reactions. Why you react positively or not. Thisis interesting. The intellectual reasons come afterwards.The intellect is a sharp instrument but it has a limitedrange. The instinct is huge. I always bring in the ideas,then we talk.

Zumthor has written that his favourite drawings areworking drawings, describing them as likeanatomical drawings10 of a building. Therelationship between what constitutes designdrawings and what constitutes working drawings isa common one in most countries and arguablydistinguishes a good design from a good building.Zumthors architecture suggests that decisionsabout materials and details continue well into theworking drawings phase, extending that creativeprocess as long as is necessary and he resists thisdescriptive split of design drawings and workingdrawings. The material development of a project issomehow there in the first images and cannot beneatly separated out from initial design:

Design drawings that refer to a reality which still lies in



22

the future are important in my work. I continue workingon my drawings until they reach the delicate point ofrepresentation where the prevailing mood I seek emerges,and I stop before inessentials start detracting from itsimpact. The drawing itself must take on the quality of thesought-for-object These sort of drawings enable us tostep back, to look, and to learn to understand that whichhas not yet come into being and which has just started toemerge.11

Design development then relates to the entiregestation period of the project, not say the first 25%that the Plan of Work in the UK industry suggests.

The price of qualityZumthors stance has significant implications forthe later stages of a project when engineeringconsultants and building contractors are involvedand the tensions between the demanding business ofcoordinating consultants information anddeveloping the design must be resolved. In his view,people talk a lot about collaboration until things gettough and they lose confidence. Commissioning anarchitect with such a clear sense of authorshipcoupled with the resultant lengthy timescales forprojects places considerable demands on designteams and particularly on clients. Zumthorconsiders it crucial that a client firstly knows (and byimplication accepts) his way of doing things: if thisis not the case, it does not work. He makes adistinction between product and process, Its notsomething you buy in the shop. This we do togetherof course. However, despite his emphasis on acertain collaboration and empathy between clientand architect, his lack of compromise often results inmisunderstanding and tension. He thinks it issometimes difficult for clients to work with himbecause he cannot be pressured into making choiceshe feels are not right. Nobody can pressure me. I willpay all the prices [] Maybe some people respect me,maybe other people think this guy is a little crazy []I am very straightforward and direct with them,though always myself.

Given that he describes his working process asartistic production, it is not surprising that noteveryone is prepared for what is involved. A similarlyhigh standard of engagement and ambition isexpected of the building contractors with whom heworks. He carefully investigates which contractingfirms are the best and makes the usual siteinspections and quality control steps that take placeonce a project starts on site. But he is also involved inwhat he refers to as compassionate or nursingsupervision. This involves regularly visiting thecontractors or subcontractors in their workshops togo over specific drawings and potential problems.This is primarily to anticipate the inevitableproblems that crop up when a contractor (havingsecured the contract) actually realises the highstandard of detail and specification that is expectedof him. It is also to avoid contractors taking shortcuts. However, despite the demands and tensionssuch an untypical level of involvement from thearchitect creates, everyone involved is proud of theresulting building and their contribution [26, 27].Zumthor describes drinking beer with the craftsmenat the end of the building phase of the recently-completed Kolumba Museum in Cologne and of howthey were really sad that they could not go onworking with him now that they understood thelevel of craftsmanship he was trying to achieve, ofhow he cared enough to be in their workshop everyday. They realised that their work was beingappreciated and this also gives them a good feeling.

design arq . vol 13 . no 1 . 2009 33


23

24

25

22 Kunsthaus, Bregenz:early study modelsfor house are hollowcubes with colouredinteriors

23 Filled with a widevariety of nishedand unnishedstudies ...

24 drawings, models,rough and precisedrawings

25 contrasting withthe nishedperfection of theKunsthaus

ConclusionWhat makes all three architects creative to thedegree and in the way we have seen? Are there anycommon factors among these three very differentarchitects? It is clear that all three aspire to producearchitecture of a high quality. Practices withacknowledged design credentials often consciouslypursue creativity and use the entire developmentprocess as the vehicle to achieve their architecture.12

More than that, all three offices are supported byspecific structures and cultures in Switzerland. Theyall begin a design with an implicit understandingthat they will be involved all the way through therealisation process and can expect an excellentquality of construction. It is obvious that there is agenerational shift, with e2a fully accepting that foreach project they must be open to learning newapproaches with each new situation influencinghow they work.

All three interviewees take full responsibility fordesign leadership and management within theirpractices. Both Deplazes and Zumthor describe theearly stages of designing as an almost intuitive



26

26 Craftsmen feltinvolved by the endof the Kolumbaproject ...

27 and regretted theend of working with amaster builder likeZumthor

process, while all describe employing a lively andflexible variety of techniques and tools to start adesign. The importance of collaborating withcolleagues is also clear in each architects mindalthough it varies from practice to practice. Eckertrequires project-specific staff who are architects, asdoes Deplazes. Zumthor, on the other hand, employsrelatively inexperienced architects, assistants whocan react to his ideas in a particular way. Zumthorand Deplazes prefer to keep people involved from thebeginning, while Eckert is content to beopportunistic, moving staff off and on projects asand when their expertise is needed. Perhaps mostsignificantly, all mention in one way or another, the

pact that exists between Swiss contractors and Swissarchitects to achieve a certain quality, as crucial.They all display an eagerness (and assumption) toengage with the building industry in problemsolving as well as project delivery.

There is also a close link between practice andarchitecture schools and the tradition of a technicaleducation means that architects are goodinterlocutors for the construction industry. TeresaAmabile observes that the most successful scientistsoften are not the most talented, but the ones whoare just compelled by curiosity. Theyve got to knowwhat the answer is.13 She further suggests that hardwork, stamina and perseverance are more important

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27

Notes1. Frank Lloyd Wright, In the Cause

of Architecture (1928), ed. by F. Gutheim, reprint of ArchitecturalRecord essays (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975), p. 153 in R. McCarter,Twentieth Century Houses, Frank LloydWright, Fallingwater (London:Phaidon Press Limited, 1997).

2. M. Murray and D. Langford,Construction Reports 194498,(Oxford: Blackwell, 2003) inArchitects Handbook of ConstructionManagement ed.by M. Murray and D. Langford (London: ribaEnterprise, 2004).

3. Ibid., p. 4.4. For instance see Christopher

Powell, Quality: A Perspective fromConstruction History, arq, 11.3+4,(2007), 32124.

5. A. Toynbee (1964), Is Americaneglecting her creative minority?In Widening Horizons in Creativity: The proceedings of the fifth UtahCreativity Research Conference, ed. by C. W. Taylor, pp. 39. (New York:Wiley, 1990) cited in R. Ochse, Before the Gates of Excellence TheDeterminants of Creative Genius(Cambridge: Cambridge UniveristyPress, 1990) p. 45.

6. R. Ochse, Before the Gates of Excellence The Determinants of Creative Genius, p. 185.

7. Ibid., p. 187.8. R. J. Sternberg, What is the

Common Thread of Creativity? ItsDialectical Relation to Intelligenceand Wisdom, American Psychologist(April 2001), p. 360.

9. Peter Zumthor , A Way of Looking

at Things, Thinking Architecture(Basel: Birkhuser, 2006), p. 7.

10. Ibid., p. 18.11. Ibid., p. 13.12. Christopher Platt, Managing the

Creative Process, in ArchitectsHandbook of ConstructionManagement

13. T. M. Amabile, Beyond Talent:John Irving and the PassionateCraft of Creativity, AmericanPsychologist (April 2001), p. 335.

14. Ibid.15. R. J. Sternberg, What is the

Common Thread of Creativity? ItsDialectical Relation to Intelligenceand Wisdom, p. 362.

InterviewsPiet Eckert interview with the

authors and Rod Kemsley, Zurich,22 November 2007.

Andrea Deplazes interview with theauthors and Rod Kemsley, Zurich,23 November 2007.

Peter Zumthor interview with theauthors, Haldenstein, 10December 2007.

Illustration creditsarq gratefully acknowledges:Author, 9, 14, 1927Bearth & Deplazes, 8, 1013, 1518Jan Bitter, 7e2a Eckert Eckert Architekten, 16

AcknowledgementThe research for this article wassupported by an Arts andHumanities Research Councilresearch grant entitled,Constructing A Modern Architecture

of Excellence: The Case ofSwitzerland.

BiographiesChristopher Platt studied at theMackintosh School of Architecture inGlasgow. He has held senior positionsin architectural practices in Scotland,England (Maguire and Murray),Germany and Ethiopia (AbbaArchitects). He was until recentlycourse director for BSc. ArchitecturalStudies at the Department ofArchitecture, Strathclyde University.He is the founding partner, withRoderick Kemsley, of studio KAParchitects, whose built work has beenpublished in Germany, Japan, Italyand Scandinavia. He has lectured inthe UK, Germany, Ethiopia, Malaysiaand China.

Steven Spier is visiting professor inthe Department of Architecture,University of Strathclyde, Glasgow,where he was previously head ofdepartment. He is currently principaland vice-chancellor of the newHafenCity University Hamburg, aUniversity of the Built Environmentand Metropolitan Development. He isthe author of Swiss Made.

Authors addressChristopher Plattstudio KAP architects109 Hope StreetGlasgowg2 [email protected]

than raw talent for creativity, but that one doesrequire a a supporting social environment.14

Certainly Swiss building culture seems to create that environment. Contractors and consultants have an unwritten pact to achieve high standardstogether and Swiss society accepts a (for Europe) high financial investment in the countrys builtenvironment. Perhaps this is what having a craftculture really means. If wisdom represents asynthesis of the thesis of intelligence (as traditionally defined) and the antithesis of creativity 15 (Sternberg), then the Swiss buildingindustry could be described as wise in the truesense of the word.

From all three architects there is a confident senseof the architects role as a distinct and leadingprofessional in the construction process. There is noindication that any of them feel the need to justifytheir position or profession or that their roles arebeing usurped or found superfluous in Switzerland.Their rather different experience in Germanysuggests the positive effect on quality the Swisssituation allows. It is also a given that in Switzerlandthe architect is considered a key creative player in the

realisation of a building. There were no hints thattheir clients expected them to be a different kind ofprofessional, i.e. more managerial. All these factorscreate the climate in which architects practise andinfluence how they initiate a design. For one thing,there is an expectation that the quality ofarchitecture is valued and therefore exploration andinterrogation is a worthwhile and worthy exerciseand one that involves the construction industry. Thisall must contribute to that supporting socialenvironment referred to earlier. According to ourfindings from these interviews, architecture inSwitzerland still sits confidently in both the culturaland the construction industries and the architect is arespected contributor to society.

Whether this will remain so in the foreseeablefuture is less clear. The consequence for othercountries that have already removed thearchitectural profession (usa, the Netherlands, uk)from the full realisation process and from mediatingbetween users and makers is only too clear to see: apoor level of built infrastructure, a low standard ofcraftsmanship and a seemingly inextricable skillscrisis in the building industry.



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