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| Interest in Geneva’s architecture has been building over the past few years. In a city where many deplore the dearth of quality examples of contemporary architecture, two major recent elements are energizing the debate. First, the La Praille-Acacias site (220 hectares, of which 85% is in public hands ) has been the subject of two architecture and town-planning competitions, one managed by FAS (the Swiss Federation of Architects), the other by the State of Geneva. Second, an Architecture Museum (La Maison de l’architecture) has taken shape, at present as a website (www.ma-ge.ch) listing all architecture-related events, before perhaps becoming a permanent venue for architecture open to one and all.
In such a situation we would like to help spark a debate about architectural ideas for Geneva by temporarily setting aside the administrative, legal and political contingencies that are a part of any competition. Because we are a contemporary art structure and therefore outside the specific architecture circuits, yet curious about the cultural issues facing the city, we have invited seven local architectural firms to give expression to an idea or architectural gesture for Geneva. These ideas may be large scale or small, realist, visionary or even utopian, though whatever the case they will surely provide a stimulating boost in a period when ambitious large-scale projects seem possible. Links : www.adr-architectes.ch; www.christiandupraz.ch; http://group8.ch; www.made-in-network.com; www.pictet-architecte.ch | |||||||||||||
from left to right: Charles Pictet, Patrick Heiz, François Charbonnet, Julien
Descombes, Andrea Bassi,