Ultimate Switzerland: architecture, design and arts building

As soon as we think about Switzerland, images of delicious cheese and snowy mountains come to our shared social imaginary. Switzerland is also well known for its watches and punctuality. No matter where you look in Switzerland, you’ll be in awe by its beauty, there is no doubt about this but today, inspired by Massada Eyewear, the independent European eyewear brand domiciled in Switzerland, we want to leave all those worldwide known topics behind and focus on the ultimate Switzerland, and its latest architecture, design and arts building a very unique and alternative identity.

 

We want to start this itinerary in Europes most famous mountain : The Matterhorn, where the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge has been recently open to the public. The Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge spans 494 meters (1620 feet), and cuts the 2-day travel distance between the towns of Zermatt and Grächen by nearly 3 hours. The bridge spans the country’s “deepest cut valley,” reaching a height of 85 meters (279 feet) above the ground at its highest point. Nature, architecture, landscape and travel unified in this stauning piece. 

 

 

Matthieu Gaffsou is an artist based in Lausanne. His latest project is called H+. Gaffsou travels from Switzerland all around the world tracking the transhumanism culture. Transhumanism is an intellectual movement that aims to augment the human body through use of sciences and technique. This topic refers to everyday purposes, which are already banal, such as the use of pacemakers or smartphones. It also refers to fantasies which advocate immortality and even claim the abandonment of the body made of flesh in favor of the machine. From the myth of the cyborg to the chimera, transhumanism can bring to mind a new religion.

 

 

Christophe Guberan is a Swiss industrial designer currently teaching product design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

Guberan focuses his work on new research and technological development. Guberan’s research is often guided by strong attraction to materials and their intrinsic features, always starting with a simple observation of materials – for example the water-sensitive properties of the paper. By hacking devices, he challenges the limits of the matter to rethink the traditional production processes that implement  new aesthetics and qualities. 

 

 

Pyramid House designed by London-based DF_DC is a minimalist family house located in Tegna, Switzerland. In its suburban context, the house appears as an extraneous object of a scale difficult to gauge and of intriguing character. Once inside, one is surprised by how the L-shaped plan is arranged underneath the pitched roofs and around the garden in opposition to the hermetic urban stance.