Astrid Staufer - Böcker

The Klanghaus Toggenburg, located in the northeast of Switzerland and host to musical rehearsals, courses and concerts alike, is a place that enables visitors to experience a unique interplay of architecture, sound and nature. The Klanghaus in the Swiss Canton St. Gallen is the result of an impressive twenty-year development process: based on a concept by the late Marcel Meili, which won the 2010 thesis competition for the building, it was then realized by architect Astrid Staufer with the office Staufer & Hasler and opens its doors to the public in May of 2025. It is, at its core, a fundamentally social project, comprised of the work of all those involved in this process. Like the building itself, this publication is best understood as a research experiment intended to reveal new insights into sound and space. The book focuses on architectural aspects and constructive solutions for extraordinary room acoustics, as well as the interactions between the alpine landscape and natural yodeling or between the soundscape and the construction of the Klanghaus. It explores the many aspects of an extraordinary building, from the material vitality of shingles to the impressive conceptual proximity to the Ali Qapu Palace in Isfahan to the way ornaments become a visible expression of the essence of space and architecture itself. Combining various contributions from experienced and upcoming experts from fields as diverse as architecture, sound art, acoustics timber construction, ethnomusicology, art history, philosophy, history and tourism, this publication creates a polyphonic image. These texts are complemented by 3D architectural and construction drawings, photo series, musical scores and lyrical fragments.

Since the introduction of steel as a building material in the early twentieth century, its superior performance has challenged conventional wisdom about construction, enabling designs of surprising lightness and span. Steel offered the opportunity to significantly expand buildings vertically and thus emerged as a symbol of the conflict between technological progress and the architectural ideal. More recently, the use of exposed steel elements in modern architecture ushered in a rediscovery of buildings' metamorphoses.Building Additions in Steel looks at the largely ignored topic of steel additions in architecture and engineering, documenting an ambitious, interdisciplinary research project by architects, engineers, teachers, and students at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Constructive Design. The book offers basic theoretical and technical information on a selection of outstanding steel additions alongside more than 100 illustrations, including plans and photographs. With contributions by Jürg Conzett and Roger Diener, Lorenzo De Chiffre, Yves Dreier, Patric Fischli-Boson, Patric Furrer, Matteo Iannello, Daniel Meyer, François Renaud, Astrid Staufer, Daniel Stockhammer, and Martin Tschanz.