In his second poetics lecture at the City College of New Work on November 4, 1981 Max Frisch told the story of a Swiss ambassador in Leningrad. Feeling elated about the successful conclusion of a trade agreement with what was at the time the Soviet Union the ambassador wanted to see the works of the Russian avant-garde, which were kept hidden from the people in the Hermitage. Upon his urging a female official with an interest in the arts showed him the pictures and at the end the Swiss man wanted to look at the black square by Kazimir Malevich, just for a few minutes. When this key work of Suprematism was brought from the basement he enthused about it together with the woman. „But I understand, said the ambassador, I understand that this would mean as little to the Soviet people as to the Swiss, a square, just black and nothing more, why don't you hang it for a while beside the paintings of Socialist Realism, in which the Soviet people recognises itself working for society, and the people would see that Malevich is rubbish! The woman listened to him. Seriously, the ambassador said, you don't need to hide Malevich in the basement, people wouldn't even look at it! The woman laughed: You are mistaken - the people would not understand this black square but they would see that there is something besides society and the state.“ (Max Frisch, Schwarzes Quadrat, Frankfurt 2008, S. 70–71). That something else exists - this is the irritation, Max Frisch explained to his American listeners, taking up the cudgels on behalf of art as a contraposition to power. He concluded the lecture with the declaration of a poetic manifesto. Borrowing from Kazimir Malevich it bore the title „Black Square“: poetry - representing the arts - as permanent irritation. In the case of Valerio Olgiati, to whom this et-cetera issue is devoted, architecture takes on this task. His black square is the studio house in Flims, which he recently completed for himself and his staff. In Ethiopia it is the apparently adventurous undertaking to erect 13 universities throughout the country for over one hundred thousand students - education as a means of liberation from the powerlessness of poverty and oppression. In Tuggen in the Swiss plateau region, apartments are being erected that for many visitors are most likely as incomprehensible as the black squares. And in Basel a new mosaic piece has been added to the Novartis Campus, which is kept as secret from most citizens as the artistic treasures in the Hermitage in Leningrad. This issue tells about all these irritations.
The editors

Thema

Sabine von Fischer
Schwarzes Quadrat Atelier Olgiati in Flims von Valerio Olgiati

Christoph Schläppi
Schöpferische Überhöhung Überbauung Wylerpark in Bern von Rolf Mühlethaler

Barbara Wiskemann
These und Exempel Mehrfamilienhaus in Tuggen von Meili Peter Architekten, Zürich

Ulrike Zophoniasson-Baierl
Das Haus als Stadt Bürogebäude Fabrikstrasse 12, Novartis-Campus in Basel von Vittrio Magnago Lampugnani

Yves Dreier, Eric Frenzel
Äthiopien bauen

Forum

Orte: Françoise Ninghetto
EFH: Wohnhaus in Chêne-Bougeries von Charles Picet Architekten
Wettbewerb: Internationaler Realisierungswettbewerb Wiedererrichtung des Berliner Schlosses, Bau des «Humboldt-Forums» im Schlossareal Berlin
Innenarchitektur: Über das Design von Lebensmittelverpackungen
Zum werk-material: Kirchgemeindehäuser Ebmatingen von B.E.R.G. Architekten, Wiesendangen von BDE Architekten
Bücher: Eine Publikation zur Bedeutung des Tageslichts im Wohnraum
Ausstellung: Zur Ausstellung Interieur / Exterieur. Wohnen in der Kunst im Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
bauen + rechnen: Brachen in der Schweiz
bauen + rechten: Bauhandwerkerpfandrecht
Ausstellungen Veranstaltungen
Neuerscheinungen Produkte

werk-material

B.E.R.G. Architekten, Zürich: Neubau Kirchgemeindehaus Gerstacher Ebmatingen, ZH
BDE Architekten GmbH, Winterthur: Kirchgemeindehaus Wiesendangen, ZH