Rising Stars in Swiss Architecture Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein will talk at Harvard GSD
Linked to the exhibit "Inventioneering Architecture" at Boston Logan Airport, the Consulate of Switzerland/ SHARE Boston continues its high profile Lecture Series on March 16th with a presentation by the talented Swiss practice Christ and Ganterbein at Harvard's Graduate School of Design.
In July 2002 Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein, two totally unknown guys in their early thirties, beat the international stars in architecture: they won the competition on the extension of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich. They were specifically invited for the competition to get the “Bilboa-Gugenheim-Museum’s effect” for Zurich as well. The competition brought up two new talents.
Christ and Gantenbein first met through an internship at the office of Herzog & de Meuron and collaborated in a few elective courses at ETH Zurich. They graduated with Hans Kohlhoff, who was their thesis professor at ETH. Right after their graduation, they started their own office in Zurich. Their first project was a small residential house at the foot of a residential district immediately adjacent to the railroad. The building is based on an anonymous commercial architecture rather than on the villas in its immediate proximity.
Thanks to a travel scholarship, they took the classic educational trip to Italy. Two years later they dared to participate in their first competition and ended up with the fourth prize. More driven by sportsmanship than confidence, they also took part in the competition on the extension of the Swiss National Museum and put a jagged structure in front of the old museum, which looks like a fairy tale castle. By winning this competition Christ & Gantenbein became important contributers to the Swiss architectural scene. They relocated their office from Zurich to Basel and see their future clearly: "The Swiss National Museum may not eat us up – we have to approach other things as well."
The lecture at Harvard's GSD will focus on small scale and urbanistic projects in Christ and Gantenbein's teaching and professional acitivity.
Christoph Gantenbein will first introduce you to the architects' situation in Switzerland and the vocational chances of graduated architects (including Christ & Gantenbein's experience as a young office after graduation) and then give an insight into design strategies taught in Mendrisio.
Emanuel Christ will draw an urbanistic portrait, shown in examples of Swiss urban structures and territory.
For more information on projects and biographies, please visit their website