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Lighting the Blue Touchpaper and Building Well

Why is the overall quality of contemporary architecture in Switzerland excellent and what aspects of architectural practice influence this phenomenon? This paper explores how the culture and quality of construction in Switzerland has influenced three generations of architects in how they initiate and sustain their design process.

Face to face interviews with architects of differing generations, all with acknowledged work, were used to explore the question of what they do when they design and how this influenced the quality of their realised projects. A considerable amount of material in recorded format was collated during the interviews (including a rare interview with Pritzker Prize Laureate and this year's RIBA Gold Medallist, Peter Zumthor).

This work was one of a number of outputs resulting from an AHRC research grant entitled, 'Constructing A Modern Architecture of Excellence: The Case of Switzerland’. The interview with Peter Zumthor generated a further refereed paper,“Real to Real”, in Architecture &, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh, (volume 03, Spring 2011, pp25-27), which followed a presentation at the Seriality’ International Conference, University of Edinburgh, Dept. of Architecture, 2009. Peter Zumthor was chosen as he represented an uncompromising approach to his practice as artist/architect as well as the overall and consistent excellence of his few built projects. Since this interview, he has been awarded with the Pritzker Prize and in 2013 the RIBA Gold Medal; the two most prestigious architectural prizes in the world.