13.03. - 08.05.2016

Spatial Positions 11. This was Tomorrow: Reinventing Architecture 1953-1978

​Opening: 12.03.2016, 7 pm

The S AM presents ‘This Was Tomorrow’ an exhibition by the Drawing Matter collection about architectural imagination, and the power, processes and poetics of creation and invention.
Curated by Markus Lähteenmäki, Manuel Montenegro & Nicholas Olsberg in cooperation with Hubertus Adam, the exhibition presents a series of twelve episodes focused on the period from 1953 to 1978 in the reconsideration of architecture. They all explore the very different ways to activate the potentials of the built environment in reforming the relations of human beings to each other and to their environments -- from Le Corbusier’s final explorations of a new harmony of form to Aldo Rossi’s first evocations of the force of history.

ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMME

12.03.2016, 7 PM: Opening
17.03.2016, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
07.04.2016, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour
21.04.2016, 6 PM: Public Guided Tour

THE EXHIBITION IS SUPPORTED BY:

GGG Gesellschaft für das Gute und Gemeinnützige
Panoramah

CREDITS

1. Le Corbusier, Model for Le Main Ouverte, Chandigarh, 1950-1965. © FLC-ADAGP.
2. Le Corbusier, Study Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp, 1950-1955. © FLC-ADAGP.
3. John Hejduk, Silent Witnesses: The Extro-Intro House, 1975. © Estate of the architect.
4. James Gowan, Study for an Expandable House, 1957. © Estate of the architect.
5. Álvaro Siza, Bouça Housing, Porto, c. 1972. © Estate of the architect.
6. Adolfo Natalilni (Superstudio), Study for the Continuous Monument, 1969. © The architect.
7. Walter Pichler, Study for the Underground City, c. 1963. © The artist.
8. Constant, New Babylon, 1963. © Estate of the artist.
9. Michael Webb, Sin Centre, 1961. © The architect.
​10. Hans Hollein, City, Communication Interchange, 1962. © Estate of the architect.

 

Upcoming exhibitions

05.04. - 14.09.2025

What Was Could Be – Experiments Between Preservation and Architecture

In the shift towards sustainable building practice, work with the existing and thus the methods of historic preservation gain new relevance.

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

Wohnen – not for Profit: 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.