S AM 10 - Bildbau / Building Images

Forty Swiss architectural projects of the past twenty-five years

Interviews with Peter Zumthor, Herzog & de Meuron, Gigon/Guyer, among others

Photographs by Thomas Ruff, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Jeff Wall, among others

Exhibition at the Swiss Architecture Museum Basel, until April 2013

Gion Caminda’s 'Funeral Home' in Vrin, Peter Zumthor's thermal baths in Vals, the Olympic Stadium in Beijing by Herzog & de Meuron – almost everyone knows about these famous buildings, but not everyone has visited them. Our impressions of contemporary architecture are often shaped by photographs.

'Bildbau' offers a panorama of the past twenty-five years of Swiss architecture. Iconic buildings, that have contributed to the global success of Swiss architecture, are presented not in plans and models, but solely in photographs. These enable artistic positions to enter into dialogue with architecture photography.

This publication contains exemplary photography, while its analytical section highlights the mediatisation of architecture. What role do images play in architectural design? Which architects prefer which photographers? How is architecture translated into images? This is an exciting examination of how we perceive and document architecture.

Photographs by among others, Iwan Baan, Hélène Binet, Hans Danuser, Heinrich Helfenstein, Walter Mair, Thomas Ruff, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Jeff Wall.

Interviews with the architects Peter Zumthor, Herzog & de Meuron, Gigon/Guyer, Christian Kerez, Miroslav Šik and Made In, as well as with the photographers Heinrich Helfenstein, Georg Aerni, Iwan Baan, Walter Mair and Hans Danuser.

Die im Christoph Merian Verlag erschienene Publikation trägt Magazincharakter und erfüllt höchste gestalterische Ansprüche. (Tilo Richter, Basler Zeitung, 12.4.2013)