- sorry , looks like this is old news. - many thanks nonetheless..

I finally saw the rap video...funny

glad people are enjoying them, they were a bitch to take! sorry for the low quality.

nothing accompanies the zumthor chapel like the sound of heavy mouth breathing...it gave it a blair witch horror effect.

you try walking up the side of a mountain for 1 hr and filming ;)

mhollenstein,

did you have connections to get in Kolumba or you snuck in?...when i was there i wanted to steal one of those masonry units as a souvenir...

the scale of the chapel seemed smaller than I had expected- and definately smaller than it's rather looming international presence ....
Also interesting to see that there just a dirt road leading up to it, and there seemed generally little or no built railings or banks around it ..

no disrespect, hollenstein...i realized i failed to mention that i liked the films very much!

great videos mhollenstein... especially the chapel.. I wish you have taken a moment to sit in one of the banks and kept the camera still for a second.. like in a mass or something

if you're going there again do an evening/sunset or an early morning video, would you? ;) ... I would love to see how it looks with the morning light entering through the perimetral skylight

where's the chapel anyway? is it difficult to reach that place?

yes, very cool vids. the heavy breathing def add some character. i'm familiar with that long hike up the mountain-side...so no judgement here...it looked like a beautiful (and warm?) day... I have a few pics on flickr of the chapel and some other stuff from Sumvitg, including a small gallery by Peter Markli...

the chapel is somewhat difficult to reach. you can find directions on the galinsky website.

AP - nice picks of la congiunta. i'm convinced that's one of my top fave's from my time abroad. did you get a tour or did you pick up the keys?

also, i was there less than a month after you. sumvitg/chur were already freezing cold by then. one of the reasons i love living in seattle, is that when the light breaks through the fog, it reminds me a lot of the canton of graubunden. Only the light here is much more intense.

here's the galinsky link

and la congiunta

thanks for the link to la congiunta...i've never come across any info on it...

my professor sent a couple of my classmates to grab the keys from some guy at a cafe (just like your link says)...kinda random, but perfectly appropriate...

i ended up travelling on my own, and my school wasn't that useful as a resource, i ended up doing 90% of the research on my own. it really made me appreciiate my travels that much more.

a useful tip i found, especially in the ticino/graubuenden area was to go to high ground, and then pick out the quickest way to projects, that way i didn't have to carry 800 different maps, and it allowed me to see more than i probably would have otherwise.

i really need to get back. or just marry a swiss chick.

do you have pics or video of any other MArkli proj's - ? his work is phenomenal!

actually, i would say la congiunta is his best project. his houses (throughout CH) are nice, but not phenomenal.

he is better known as one of the top teachers at the ETH, who, along with dolf schnebli, taught most of the top swiss architects you know (or should know) today.

i've been to this one

have the markli / mostafavi monograph , and really only know his projects from there. Will visit with one day i know.
i agree w. you that la congiunta is one of his best - but there are a few other residential projets that i find incredibly subtle - .. one where a large portion of the 1st floor is actually cantelevered - though at only a foot off the ground or less...could never be called showy , in fact , it takes a while to even notice..-
Also house with a red facade- and columns that taper- etruscan-wise.
don't have them on hand - rough to describe - sorry.

Funny, I bought that monograph last weekend. Congiunta is also such a surreal experience to visit - asking for the key at the local café and going there yourself. I went there during a very rainy august, then heading towards the San Gottardo pass:

and this is when i wonder why the fuck am i living in americ.

a-f,
i'll see your san gottaro pass,
and raise you one white-knuckled switchbacked uphill detour adjacent to the A13 at the san bernadino pass... in a ford fiesta.
me: holy shit, was that ice?
buddy: fuck you, the whole road is ice.

the maerkli book - approximations isn't half bad. it was on my desk most of my thesis year til someone stole my copy.

C: the house you discuss, is in Grabs. Andrea Deplazes wrote Constructing Architecture - it has some really nice details of the maerkli house, and great case studies of their work and a ton of others.
you can also find info at bauphysik

if you like maerkli's work...
check out christian kerez and daniele marques.

anyone have a spare copy of the stiftung la congiunta lying around? i'll gladly trade you my steven holl a+u rag

White-knuckled eh? How about crossing this swaying thing?

conzett's ? !

holz. - thanks v. much for the christian kerez tip ! - his stuff is Nice. , and i don't remember ever having come accross it before.-

yeah it is. i love that bridge.
the punt da saransuns in viamala is equally as beautiful, though a little more stable

still not as fun as sliding up a hill.
conzett's own house in/near chur is also stunning.

it's what i'm here for

just got to say I really appreciate this thread and the work discussed - as
well as the experiences to visit the work. thanks for sharing

Mostafavi did a conzett book too which I also picked up , very similar in production to the Markli Does he teach anything on the swiss up there at Cornell?

Can someone tell me what the big deal on St. Benedicts is? Maybe I just dont like that shape.

Those details are gorgeous though, thanks hol!

i found the conzett book online for like $30.00 i know it retails for $80+ but it's an amazing book.

for those interested, and with oodles of cash, juerg conzett teaches at the chur institute

zumthor's church in plan is 1.2 of a lemniscate and it's actually a pretty amazing space.

as i recall, the vertex of the lemniscate points uphill, thereby skirting future avalanches around the church. it's a touch of brilliance.

The chapel is really easy to get to, actually, almost all of zumthors buildings are. this is because the swiss are crazy about architecture and everybody knows where they are. the swiss public transport system, although not the cheapest runs perfectly. i will upload some new video's to youtube soon, i just have to figure out how to reduce them to less than 100mb. i have tonnes of photo's too, but youtube can't take photo's and i can't be F'ed with more websites to remember.

mdlers copy of zumthor works will soon hit ebay...

didn't you already try to sell it?!?

was going to, but never did

fingers ready.

as am i.

if i mine goes up, will it sell?
i have the a+u as well ..
sometimes i think, 'what the hell!'
it is a thing on which i dwell
and then there rings the dinner bell
the sound of which will lead to quell
my hunger deep inside my self
'oh rescue me!' i yell, i yell

not about Zumthor but about Switzerland...:

Can someone please confirm if this building is really the Kalman House by Luigi Snozzi in Tessin, Sw.?



the photographer who has posted it @ Flickr says so, but apparently it's not (if this is the real Kalman House...)
And if it's not, then what house could it be?

Anyone can help? Thanks in advance.

the architektenwerk website is casa kalmann.

that's picture's not snozzi's work. it almost looks like vacchini or gmuer, but i'm guessing if it's in ticino, it's a botta acolyte.

thanks holz! .. I'll try doing a search with Vacchini and Gmur

whaaaa ! - vals book out.
Many of the same photos that have been used in other books /articles- tho some new ones.. haven't had a chance to look throught it all...