09.05. - 23.08.2015

Bernard Tschumi. Architecture: Concept & Notation

The exhibition is an adaptation of the first great European retrospective on this influential theorist and practitioner Bernard Tschumi, which was first shown in 2014 in the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

Bernard Tschumi, born 1944 in Lausanne, has exerted a decisive influence as an architect and architectural theorist on contemporary architectural discourse in the past decades. Numerous drawings, sketches and collages grant a comprehensive overview of his most important buildings and projects. Supplemented by numerous items from the archives and by film documents, the exhibition showcases in equal measure his theoretical and his practical works. It casts light, in particular, on the processes that accompany the transfer of his ideas and concepts into architectonic projects.

Bernard Tschumi essentially represents an experimental (and today once again current) understanding of architecture, honed in a dialogue with disciplines such as film, art and philosophy.

Accompanying Programme:

08.05.15, 7 PM: Opening
11.05.15, 7 PM: Bernard Tschumi in conversation with Jacques Herzog
21.05.15, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
04.06.15, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
12.06.15, 11:30 AM: Excursion: 11:30 AM Manufactury Vacheron Constantin (Plan-les-Ouates) / 3 PM Concert Hall Le Rosey (Rolle)
18.06.15, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
24.06.15, 10-12 PM: Wednesday-Matinée
09.07.15, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
11.07.15, 11.30/16 Uhr: Excursion Parc Zoologique de Paris, guided by Bernard Tschumi
23.07.15, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
06.08.15, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
20.08.15, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour

Warmest thanks to the supporters of the exhibition:

Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung
Graham Foundation
 

Upcoming exhibitions

05.04. - 14.09.2025

What Was Could Be: Experiments Between Preservation and Architecture

An Exhibition by the  S AM Swiss Architecture Museum in Cooperation with the Chair of Construction Heritage and Preservation (Prof. Dr. Silke Langenberg), ETH Zurich.


Preservation is progressive: In current efforts to shift towards more sustainable building practices (known in German as the Bauwende, or ‘building turnaround’), preservation and maintenance of the existing building stock play a central role. The alteration or conversion of an existing building is considerably more resource-efficient than a comparable new build. This is leading to changes in the nature of architecture itself: where the focus used to be on new construction, building upon the built is increasingly considered the future of the discipline.

27.09. - 09.11.2025

SAY Swiss Architecture Yearbook

What defines Swiss architecture? The exhibition focuses on current construction and renovation projects with the aim of raising awareness about Swiss building culture and increase its visibility.
Curated by the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum and the magazine werk, bauen+wohnen.

29.11.2025 - 19.04.2026

Housing for Housing: The cooperative as a laboratory for coexistence

The exhibition presents cooperative housing regionally, nationally and internationally as a laboratory of non-profit-oriented cohabitation from which the entire city can benefit.