Concrete in Switzerland – Histories from the Recent Past

Salvatore Aprea is an architect and architectural historian. He is a scientist and curator of the Archives de la construction moderne. He has published several essays, books, and periodicals about the history of concrete. Nicola Navone is the vice-director of the Archivio del Moderno at the Academy of Architecture of Mendrisio, Switzerland. Laurent Stalder is a full professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Sarah Nichols is assistant professor of architecture at Rice University.

• Switzerland, A Technological Pastoral / Laurent StalderBeton is a State of Mind: On the Representation of Concrete in Swiss Cinema / Marcel BächtigerNature, Science, and Enterprise: The Origins of the Success of Reinforced Concrete in Switzerland. The Introduction, Diffusion, and Supersedence of the Hennebique System / Salvatore ApreaBetween Constraint and Freedom to Innovate: Swiss Standards to Innovate / Aurelio MuttoniThe N2 Chiasso–Saint Gotthard Motorway: Design and Construction of One Hundred and Forty-Three Kilometres of Reinforced Concrete / Ilaria GiannettiReinforced Country Below Ground / Silvia Berger ZiauddinTerraced Hillside Housing Architectures. When Vineyards Gave Way to Swiss Families / Lorenzo StiegerThe Swiss Principle of Béton Brut: ‘Betonkonstruktion’. A Debate between Theory and Practice, 1940s–1960s / Silvia GroazGesamtschweizerische Plattenbau – Large-Panel Construction in Switzerland. The IGECO Heavy Prefabrication System in Göhner Housing Estates: Serial Production and Variations (1965–1977) / Giulia MarinoThe Pluralities of the Possible / Martin Tschanz‘In our country, it is practically impossible not to build in concrete’. Brief Notes on Exposed Reinforced Concrete in the Architecture of Ticino / Nicola NavoneConcrete in the Early Works of Herzog and de Meuron / Roberto GargianiSouthern Fragments of Swiss Asbestos-Cement, 1940 to 2040 / Hannah le RouxCONCRETE STORIES / Sarah NicholsIntroductionConcrete is RockConcrete is UndergroundConcrete is EnergyConcrete is Second NatureConcrete is MonolithicConcrete is CompositeConcrete is ImmaterialConcrete is PraxisConcrete is Fluid