The clear and fundamental train of thought that forms the basis for every design by the London architects leads to projects that are characterized to an equal extent by the utilization and the location-specific, constructive requirements. A semi-detached house in London is thus transformed into a complex organism that is incorporated respectfully into the housing development. Text in English and German.

Jonathan Woolf: De aedibus international 4

Arts & Photography

Olgiati, Valerio

Davidovici, Irina

Architecture

Quart Architektur

The Visible Origin of Architecture: "I asked architects to send me important images that show the basis of their work. Images that are in their head when they think. Images that show the origin of their architecture. In this book we find 44 individual 'musées imaginaires'. The most unique architects living today each present up to 10 images to explain the autobiographical roots of their oeuvre. The images are explanations, metaphors, foundations, memories and intentions. They are poetic and philosophical avowals. They reveal a personal perspective on thoughts. They show the roots of architecture and expectations concerning projects. Conscious and unconscious. This book has the format of a reader. As little as possible is said. The images are small, legible and interpretable as icons. As individual collections, they present a personal view of an individual world, while as a whole they provide a universal view of the perceptible origin of contemporary architecture." Valerio Olgiati The images submitted to Olgiati are personal, confidential and poetic revelations of the deeper foundations on which the architects' projects are based. The collection acts as a kind of depth gauge of contemporary world architecture. The list comprises the 44 most unique architects living today: David Adjaye, Francisco Aires Mateus, Manuel Aires Mateus, Alejandro Aravena, Ben van Berkel, Mario Botta, Alberto Campo Baeza, Adam Caruso, Peter St John, David Chipperfield, Preston Scott Cohen, Hermann Czech, Roger Diener, Peter Eisenman, Sou Fujimoto, Antón Garcia-Abril, Go Hasegawa, Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Steven Holl, Anne Holtrop, Junya Ishigami, Arata Isozaki, Toyo Ito, Bijoy Jain (Studio Mumbai), Momoyo Kaijima, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (Atelier Bow-Wow), Christian Kerez, Hans Kollhoff, Winy Maas (MVRDV), Peter Märkli, Jürgen Mayer H., Richard Meier, Glenn Murcutt, Ryue Nishizawa, Valerio Olgiati, John Pawson, Cecilia Puga, Smiljan Radic, Richard Rogers, Kazuyo Sejima, Jonathan Sergison, Stephen Bates, Miroslav ik, Alvaro Siza Vieira, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Peter Wilson (Bolles + Wilson), Peter Zumthor.

The Images of Architects

More than ever, architecture is in need of provocation, a new path beyond the traditional notion that buildings must serve as vessels, or symbols of something outside themselves. Non-Referential Architecture is nothing less than a manifesto for a new architecture. It brings together two leading thinkers, architect Valerio Olgiati and theorist Markus Breitschmid, who have grappled with this problem since meeting in 2005. In a world that itself increasingly rejects ideologies of any kind, Olgiati and Breitschmid offer non-referential architecture as a radical, new approach free from rigid ideologies. Non-referential buildings, they argue, are entities that are themselves meaningful outside a vocabulary of fixed symbols and images and their historical connotations. For more than a decade, Olgiati and Breitschmid’s thinking has placed them at the forefront of architectural theory. Indispensable for understanding what the future might hold for architecture, Non-Referential Architecture will become a new classic.

Non-Referential Architecture: Ideated by Valerio Olgiati and Written by Markus Breitschmid

Breitschmid, Markus

Park Books

This manifesto by architect Valerio Olgiati and theoretician Markus Breitschmid demonstrates a new approach in architecture in a world free of ideologies and, therefore, references. It offers a foundation for conceiving a non-referential architecture in that non-referential world. Text in English and Italian.

Architettura Non-Referenziale

A new, exquisitely produced, elegant volume featuring the entire built work of celebrated Swiss architect Valerio Olgiati. &nbsp; Valerio Olgiati's latest book is about the beauty of the very varied buildings he has realized to date. This exquisite small volume features them all in seventy-nine striking color photographs, each of them supplemented by a floor plan or section serving as a visual caption. The indoor and outdoor shots demonstrate Olgiati's intuition for spectacular structures and atmospheric interiors--from the museum for the UNESCO world cultural heritage site in Bahrain to the Céline flagship store in Miami, from the office building for Baloise Insurance's headquarters in Basel to the bedroom of the French fashion designer Nicolas Ghesquière, from the visitor center of the Swiss National Park to the studio house for the Swiss musician Linard Bardill in Scharans.

Built: by Valerio Olgiati

Photography & Video

Fitting Paul Klee's extraordinary oeuvre into book form is certainly a complex endeavor--Klee's diverse body of work is always opening itself up to new interpretations, and has escaped classification under the aegis of any particular style, group, or movement. This monograph achieves this feat by offering Klee in all his uniqueness, never attempting to subject the artist and his work to one interpretation. Here we see Klee's organically developed and open-ended art, which sought inspiration everywhere and in turn inspired so many in all areas of the arts. Fairytale lyricism and grotesque satire, tender jesting and very real horror, profound mysticism and sober romanticism all coexist in Klee's images. These works radiate a variety and creative energy that is rarely seen in such profusion. Paul Klee: Life and Work presents a comprehensive selection of paintings and other images, documented in nearly 500 color and black-and-white images, alongside essays that explore the artist's life and offer surprising insights into his work.

Paul Klee: His Life and Work

Lanchner, Carolyn

Temkin, Ann

Werckmeister, O.K.

Köb, Edelbert

Joanelly, Tibor

History & Criticism

Hatje Cantz Publishers

In 1995, the father of Swiss architect Valerio Olgiati left a portion of his cultural assets to the community of Flims. This legacy was provided under the condition that a certain Yellow House--an empty shell of no historical significance--was to be preserved and refurbished according to his taste, and, above all, ''to be painted white from top to bottom.'' These conditions were carried out by his son in a most radical fashion: the younger Olgiati altogether redesigned the classicist-inspired Yellow House at Flims so that today it stands out at the very center of the community as an erratic white cube, debunking romanticized notions about quaint alpine villages. For Olgiati's remodeling of the house the layers of the old unworked stone walls were laid bare, and the rough stone was reworked with the hammer to give the walls a sculptural, archaic texture. The stripped, ruin-like house was then repainted with chalk whiting. With the sweeping changes he realized, Valerio Olgiati completely reversed the original appearance of the building--while at the same time creating numerous references to its original core.

Valerio Olgiati: The Yellow House

Reference

Helfenstein, Heinrich

Foreign Language Study & Reference

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