Eröffnet wurde das Museum im Juni 1984 mit der Installation "Wrapped Floors im Architekturmuseum" des amerikanischen Künstlers Christo. Die Arbeit wirkte als „Hommage“ an das Haus. Christo bedeckte die Böden mit Stoffbahnen, klebte die Glas fronten mit Papier zu, isolierte so das Innere von der Aussenwelt, verwandelte jedes Stockwerk in einen Kontemplationsraum. So lernten die ersten Besucher die Architektur des Hauses kennen.
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.
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.
The exhibition presents cooperative housing regionally, nationally and internationally as a laboratory of non-profit-oriented cohabitation from which the entire city can benefit.