Listening to the rolling waves

Trampoline

“And at night foxes frolic on the giant trampoline,
on which children bounce during the day.
While the children sleep beneath down duvets.”

Choiseul Parc Residential Complex, 2004

Crack

“The lake lies in the windowpane. Across the windowpane,
gliding smoothly, rowers in the early morning light pull their
dead-straight course.
The pulling of the oars through water.
And the windowpane keeps unbroken pace. This amazes him every morning anew.”

Maison les Grèves, 2008

Outside

“The hedge stops short.
The grass outgrows itself.
And the palm dreams of the south.”

Grand-Saconnex Residential Complex, 2000

Niesen

“People’s voices now reached her only faintly. It was cool on the terrace and she was glad to have some peace again. Out here, with just a few other people, who were pointing into the twighlight and saying Ooh and Aah and Look and Beautiful. Taking photos, mostly selfies, with the dark blue mountain panorama in the background. She purposely positioned herself in a way that meant none
of these people could think of asking her to take a photo of them. She could do that—act in a space in such a way that she was
more surroundings than body, more railings than arms and legs, more windowpane than clothing.”

Berghaus Niesen (Niesen Alpine Lodge), 2002

Administrative building

“The cook in the canteen feels safe in this building.
Pillars present arms to the former armoury. A house built around a Zeughaus.
Once you’re in, you can’t get out again that easily.
But you can’t get in that easily either.
It’s his second week in the job and he already knows three shortcuts in the building, where the sunny spots are in the atrium, and the cycle of the large fountain in the courtyard, which indicates the hour of the day with its twelve water basins, which it fills one after the other.”

Administration Centre Guisanplatz, 2026

Youth hostel

“Now they’re all in bed inside and asleep,
or whispering in the darkness,
or tiptoeing from room to room. 
And awake they are at the river and dance.
And at the bottom, pebbles clink.”

Youth hostel, 2016

Text: Gianna Molinari

Photographs: Adrian Scheidegger and Alexander Jaquemet