Finding Buildings

Finding Buildings

Chalk Drawings by Marianne Burkhalter

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This insightful volume showcases the sketches of Swiss architect Marianne Burkhalter.

 

 

Title Information

Edited by Burkhalter Sumi Architects. With an essay by Astrid Staufer

1st edition

, 2009

Text English and German

Hardback

174 pages, 132 color and 1 b/w illustrations

24.5 x 32 cm

ISBN 978-3-85881-297-1

Content

The work of designing a building—even the largest and most technically advanced structure—begins with the most basic of elements: a sketch. This beautifully produced volume reproduces more than one hundred such initial sketches, drawn in chalk, by renowned Swiss architect Marianne Burkhalter. A co-founder of Burkhalter Sumi Architects in Zürich, she has designed a wide range of acclaimed public and private buildings, including hotels, offices, and private homes, as well as large-scale urban redevelopment projects.

Each of the chalk drawings reveals the germ of an idea, their blurred lines and simplicity rendering them more intimate and immediate than technical draftsmanship—closer in feel to the decision-making process of a solitary artist choosing among many options and sorting out problems. In their beauty and tension, they bring the work of architectural design to stunning life.

Presenting sketches for twenty projects, Finding Buildings will appeal to anyone curious about the architectural process in its early stages.

Authors & Editors

Marianne Burkhalter

 is an architect and co-founder of Zurich-based Burkhalter Sumi Architects. He taught as a professor at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Switzerland, 2008–2016 and held appointments as visiting professor at EPFL in Lausanne, Harvard GSD, University of Geneva, and University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

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Astrid Staufer

 is an architect, professor at Technische Universitat Vienna, and codirector of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Constructive Design, an interactive hub for teaching and research in building design and construction in Winterthur, Switzerland.

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Christian Sumi

 is an architect and co-founder of Zurich-based Burkhalter Sumi Architects. He taught as a professor at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Switzerland, 200816 and held appointments as visiting professor at EPFL in Lausanne, Harvard GSD, University of Geneva, and University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.