S AM 13 - Textbau / Constructing Text

Text to convey architectur

Architecture criticism and its importance

Text is an important medium for architecture. It contributes towards communicating it, especially where plans are not appropriate and images – if at all – play a subordinate role, as, for example on radio or in daily newspapers. Following “S AM 10 – Bildbau”, which focuses on photography, in this present publication, “S AM 13 – Textbau”, S AM director Hubertus Adam examines the relevance and potential of another important medium for communicating architecture.

Adam analyses the Swiss debates dealing with architecture over the past forty years: from the Seldwyla housing estate in Zurich to the topic of the housing sprawl to the Basel Fair or Zurich’s Europaallee. His focus here is architecture criticism and its importance, who architecture is written and talked about in trade magazines, newspapers, on radio or on the street.