Architecture in Europe - Overview Pt.1

Over the course of the next few days I will finally resume my posting. The emphasis of this batch of posts is new and contemporary architecture around Europe and especially in Switzerland. I have plethora of new images which I would like to share with my readers.
Take with me a tour of Chur and see some interesting redevelopment near the train station in the city center, which has completely changed during the last five years. An exclusive tour of the House Gartmann will show you how one can build a house with only concrete and no insulation!

Then we will go further down the Rhine to the shores of the Lake Constance where one can find an excellent example of how swiss architects are trying to go beyond the typical box.

Similar, who knows, but certainly equally expressive in it's form is the new Agora by UN-Studio. I was able to get some images of this new building which one can find within a rather peculiar setting.

Talking about form and contemporary new public places, we have to consider the critically acclaimed Casa de Musica by OMA. I think you will be able to get a very good glimpse by the dozens of images I was able to shoot, why this building finds acceptance even between the more classical architects.

Another interesting building is the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, it attracts thousands of visitors each day, including myself late last year. We shall examine why this is probably one of the most successful UN-Studio buildings so far.

Also at the Lake Constance, but in Austria we find the famed Kunsthaus by Peter Zumthor. Recently there was an exhibit on his work with huge models that one could even enter.

Going back to Switzerland we have to look at the recent installation by Olafur Eliassion and how he yet again attacked the notion of a house and it's particular interiority.

After finally revisting my birth place I would like to share some gorgeous images of modernist church near the Lake Lucerne.

Last but not least, we will go to Basel and it's sourroundings to admire some of the work of Herzog & De Meuron.

Finally we will try to understand the shift of the formal vocabulary in the work of Herzog & De Meuron which was most probably consummated in last years and eventually reached their home town in a mysterious manifestation: a yet unpublished house.

Naturally there is much more to see, images, observations and some other very special features to look forward to.

SC